ENG PPG - Family
by Limberj
Summary: Translated from Swedish novel "Familj". In the first book we get to know Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup as teenagers, who despite being triplets, are as different as three teenage girls can be. We'll be following the three of them equally, both together and by them selves in their own lives, and everything will revolve around the importance of having a family.
1. Facts about the characters!

Hello!  
I was thinking that everything is so crystal clear for me since I am the author. I know every character in these books like the back of my hand and it just struck me that you – the reader – might not know anything about the people in the story! So here are some quick facts about the characters that I have already introduced to you; and I will upgrade this "cheat sheet" as I'm writing and introduce new characters!

Thank you for reading and please leave a comment : )

 **Facts about the characters**

 **Professor John Utonium**  
 **Birthday:** May 4, 1960  
 **Height** : 185 cm (6 ft.)  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Mother: Arabella, deceased father: George, Brother: Eugene, Daughters: Beatrice, Rebecca and Brooke, deceased daughter: Bunny

 **(Blossom) Beatrice "Betty" Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : August 22, 1992 ("born" 1998)  
 **Height** : 165 cm (5 ft. 4")  
 **Eye** **color** : Pink  
 **Hair** **color** : Orange  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Grandmother: Arabella, Father: John, Sisters: Rebecca and Brooke, Uncle: Euegene, deceased sister: Bunny  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Temperature/weather changing, Ice breath, Pink laser beams from eyes, Pink fire breathing

 **(Buttercup) Brooke Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : August 22, 1992 ("born" 1998)  
 **Height** : 160 cm (5 ft. 2")  
 **Eye** **color** : Light green  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Grandmother: Arabella, Father: John, Sisters: Beatrice and Rebecca, Uncle: Eugene, deceased sister: Bunny  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Rub hands together until creating a green fireball, Green laser beams from eyes

 **(Bubbles) Rebecca "Becca" Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : August 22, 1992 ("born" 1998)  
 **Height** : 167 cm (5 ft. 5")  
 **Eye** **color** : Light blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Grandmother: Arabella, Father: John, Sisters: Beatrice and Brooke, Uncle: Eugene, deceased sister: Bunny  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to talk to animals, Super scream, Blue laser beams from eyes, Blue fire breathing

 **Arabella Utonium**  
 **Birthday** : March 12, 1941  
 **Height** : 155 cm (5 ft. 1")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Grey (dyed dark brown/dark red)  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : deceased husband: George, Sons: John and Eugene, Granddaughters: Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, deceased granddaughter: Bunny

 **(Brick) Luke Berger**  
 **Birthday** : April 9, 1992 (was created December 1998, then again April 1999, one year older)  
 **Height** : 178 cm (5 ft. 10")  
 **Eye** **color** : Red  
 **Hair** **color** : Dark orange/red  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Adoptive parents: Charles and Daniella, Brothers: Liam and Leo  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to open locked doors, Invisibility  
 **Other** : Southern accent (Texan)

 **(Butch) Liam Berger**  
 **Birthday** : April 9, 1992 (was created December 1998, then again April 1999, one year older)  
 **Height** : 204 cm (6 ft. 8")  
 **Eye** **color** : Dark green  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Adoptive parents: Charles and Daniella, Brothers: Luke and Leo  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to open locked doors, Strength  
 **Other** : Southern accent (Texan)

 **(Boomer) Leo Berger**  
 **Birthday** : April 9, 1992 (was created December 1998, then again April 1999, one year older)  
 **Height** : 190 cm (6 ft. 2")  
 **Eye** **color** : Dark blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Adoptive parents: Charles and Daniella, Brothers: Luke and Liam  
 **Special** **Power(s)** : Ability to open locked doors, Ability to talk to animals  
 **Other** : Southern accent (Texan)

 **Dainton Hannigan**  
 **Birthday** : January 20, 1991  
 **Height** : 186 cm (6 ft. 1")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Dark blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Father: Hank, Sisters: Wendela and Veronica

 **Mathilda Turner**  
 **Birthday** : April 8, 1992  
 **Height** : 172 cm (5 ft. 7")  
 **Eye** **color** : Brown  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : Native American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Ginger Campbell**  
 **Birthday** : December 7, 1992  
 **Height** : 159 cm (5 ft. 2")  
 **Eye** **color** : Green  
 **Hair** **color** : Light brown  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Henrietta Price**  
 **Birthday** : July 26, 1992  
 **Height** : 167 cm (5 ft. 5")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde (dyed black with pink ends)  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Jessica Ishihara**  
 **Birthday** : September 21, 1992  
 **Height** : 162 cm (5 ft. 3")  
 **Eye** **color** : Brown  
 **Hair** **color** : Black  
 **Ethnicity** : Japanese/American  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Robin Snyder**  
 **Birthday** : March 13, 1992  
 **Height** : 165 cm (5 ft. 4")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Brown  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Brother: Christopher Snyder

 **Matilda "Tilly" West**  
 **Birthday** : October 10, 1992  
 **Height** : 168 cm (5 ft. 6")  
 **Eye** **color** : Blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Redish blonde  
 **Ethnicity** : American/Norwegian  
 **Family** : Unknown

 **Zac Jones**  
 **Birthday** : July 14, 1992  
 **Height** : 182 cm (5 ft. 11")  
 **Eye** **color** : Ice blue  
 **Hair** **color** : Blonde (dyed black)  
 **Ethnicity** : American  
 **Family** : Mother: Irene, Brother: Gordon, Sister: Jenna

 **Irene Jones**  
 **Birthday:** April 4, 1977  
 **Height:** 170 cm (5 ft. 6")  
 **Eye color:** Ice blue  
 **Hair color:** Blonde  
 **Ethnicity:** American  
 **Family:** Sons: Zac and Gordon

 **Gordon Jones**  
 **Birthday:** June 29, 1993  
 **Height:** 189 cm (6 ft. 2")  
 **Eye color:** Ice blue  
 **Hair color:** Blonde  
 **Ethnicity:** American  
 **Family:** Mother: Irene, Brother: Zac, Sister: Jenna


	2. Chapter 1 - Eleven years later (edited)

Hi, Limberj here!  
This is my attempt at translating a Swedish novel into another language (in this case, English). The original title to this novel is "Powerpuffpinglorna – Familj" and it originated from Sweden. I am the creator of this particular story/fanfiction. This is a trilogy, with this as the first book out of three.  
I apologize for any bad English, as this is not my first language. And try not to be too mean in the comments (at least, if it's about bad grammar. Other than that, you can criticize the story as much as you want!). Thank you for reading and please leave a comment!  
 **I do not own "The Powerpuff girls" whatsoever (Mr. Craig McCracken does). I just own this particular** _ **fanfiction**_ **.**

 **BIG NEWS!** The bestest person in the whole wide world helped me editing this chapter! Now it sounds so much more professional and the grammar is much much much better! My biggest thanks to **Asuki-sama** ; one of the greatest people alive! : ) Thank you so much for helping me with this! 33 Now this chapter is finally readable! \\(:D)/

 **Eleven Years Later**

 **The Narrator**

The city of Townsville!

As usual, Townsville is lively and welcoming. The town has blossomed and changed with the times. Although, not only has the town changed, of course, but the people, too. With new innovations like fast computers, shiny cars, and smart cell phones, the city has become more advanced than it was… well, about eleven years ago since we last saw it.

A completely ordinary and drowsy morning for Townsville's citizens approaches. The citizens are extra well rested because of a very providential reason: monsters from Monster Island didn't visit the city anymore and the criminals have finally gotten tired of trying to rule over the town.

This morning, the twenty-fourth of August, I can with certainty say that this was a completely ordinary and calm morning, with well-rested people and-

Okay, maybe it's not a _completely_ ordinary morning, because today was the girls' birthday…and you've already figured out which girls I mean, correct? That's right: Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup Utonium.

 **Professor**  
 _Tuesday, August 22, 2009_  
My alarm clock woke me up early one morning August twenty-second; fifteen minutes past six AM to be precise. On any other mornings, Bubbles would wake up the earliest, at six o'clock, but today I was the one to wake up first.

The sunshine shining outside my bedroom window was strong. It painted our garden yellow and green and penetrated the blinds. It was my girls' seventeenth birthday today and I planned to walk into their room and sing "Happy birthday". Surprisingly enough, they didn't find that annoying anymore.

I brought the small cake with me – or rather, a cupcake – to Blossom's bedroom on the first floor. They fell asleep there, all three of them, the night before to spare me all the running up and down the stairs just to wish them a Happy birthday in the morning. They all had their own bedrooms nowadays. We had expanded the house as time passed and they grew older. Blossom got my old bedroom, under the balcony of the second floor, and we built another one for me at the back, near the kitchen. Bubbles kept the girls' old bedroom and Buttercup had gotten a room above the garage.

It was, as I said, much easier if they all went to sleep in Blossom's bedroom the night before. It spared me the need of running up and down the stairs in the morning. The girls were always so thoughtful.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear girls!" I sang as I opened the door and entered Blossom's bedroom.

Blossom had slept on her bed next to Bubbles, while Buttercup had curled up on a tent bed next to the queen sized bed. Bubbles was the first wake up and sat on the bed excitedly. Not long after, Blossom opened her eyes and sat up as well. Buttercup didn't wake up before my song was finished so Bubbles had to poke her to get her stirring.

"Happy birthday, girls! Make a wish." I shouted happily and held the cupcake above Bubbles' lap. The three of them leaned over together and blew out the small candle.

"Thank you!" Blossom and Bubbles said cheerfully while Buttercup threw herself back down onto the bed.

"Come on now, Brooke. Rise and shine." I said. Buttercup grunted something about not wanting to go to school. "I guess you don't want your gift then."

She sat up right away and watched excitedly as I went back out into the hallway. I brought three wrapped gifts into the room again.

"This one is for Betty," I said and gave Blossom the pink, flat box. "Becca." Bubbles got the smaller, but just as heavy, blue package. "And this one's for Brooke."

Buttercup eagerly reached for the green, and biggest, box and ripped the wrappings off within seconds. "Finally! I mean…thanks, Professor!"

She pulled out a rather large leather jacket from the box – a jacket she had pointed at a month prior; back when I didn't know what to get her. It was a jacket that was several sizes too big for her. I didn't know _why_ she wanted it. But then again, I guess it's some kind of fashion trend… or maybe she just has that kind of style. Buttercup, a very unique style for a very unique girl.

"Thanks, Professor!" Blossom exclaimed, who didn't know what she was going to get beforehand, but had her suspicions. "This is exactly what I need for the new school year. _And_ for college in two years!" she held her new pink laptop in her hands like she was advertising it. "It's going to last forever depending on how I treat it."

"And you, of course, will treat it carefully." Said Buttercup sarcastically. "We would _never_ imagine anything else."

"Brooke," I warned her, even though she wasn't saying anything particularly mean. I was just used to her behaving like a…excuse me…brat, towards her sisters.

"What are you even gonna have it for?" Buttercup asked her. "You've got a photographic memory. You don't even have to take notes!"

"I need to document everything I do in school and it's better doing it on a computer rather than on a paper." Blossom countered and stuck her tongue out childishly at her equally childish sister.

Bubbles, who had just unwrapped her gift, read the cover of the heavy book she had just gotten. "Volume five of Marine Animals? This is just what I wanted!"

Every year I gave her a new book about animals from a special series she followed, and this year dolphins were the fifth chapter of Marine Animals.

"So, do you like your gifts?" I asked. The girls nodded their heads.

It was no secret I was one of the wealthiest men in America, considering I was elected the greatest scientist in the world years ago. Although we had Einstein, Tesla, and Edison; none had invented three live girls who grew like normal people and additionally had super powers – something the world had never seen before.

The money came with the interviews, the photo-shoots, the conferences, the meetings with politicians, ambassadors, and even all the Presidents! Paparazzi followed us every second of our lives, bullied us…that wasn't a life I wanted my girls to grow up with. That's why I did everything I could to try and raise my daughters as fairly as possible without making them spoiled.

I just wanted them to be normal, wanted them to have normal lives, and normal friends. I wanted them to learn to take responsibility and not to think that they could have anything they wanted with just a snap of their fingers. If it wasn't enough that they possessed super powers that nothing in this universe could ever can compare with – they even had enough money in their accounts to buy half the planet!

More than half of the money I had earned over the years was donated to people (and animals, Bubbles made sure of that) who needed it far more than we ever would. The rest of it was split into three different accounts the girls would have access to the day they graduated from high school.

After a while, media and the gossip magazines grew accustomed to us – they realized that we were living normal lives without fast cars, partying celebrities, and big mansions – and it was something my girls agreed with. They didn't want to live the celebrity life, either.

When they were thirteen years old, they decided that they didn't want their old names anymore. They wanted normal names, even though I liked their birth names. But I understood, of course. They should be able to feel normal considering the circumstance. My only insistence was that they would still use the letter B as the first letters of their new names.

Blossom's new name became Beatrice. Buttercup wanted to be called Brooke. And Bubbles, poor Bubbles, had a harder time finding a good name that started with B. So, she renamed herself Rebecca, but wanted us to call her Becca.

Now we all lived normal lives. Or as normal as it could be considering the girls had super powers.

 **Bubbles**  
Betty flew into the shower after Professor left the room to let us get dressed. Brooke swooshed up the stairs to her own bedroom. Probably to stand in front of her full-length mirror to check out her new black leather jacket. We had already eaten the cake but we still needed something more for breakfast. I was still sitting on the bed. I took the opportunity to check out the first pages of my new book when Professor entered the room once again.

"Well… Since you got a cheaper gift, Bub-I mean, Becca," he started, "I was thinking you could take this, to buy something on your own." He handed me two hundred dollars. "It's not much."

"Thanks, Professor!" I said and hugged him.

Even though I knew I could get so much more, I was grateful for the small things. Professor tried his best to teach us about responsibility and not spoil us before we moved out.

 **Buttercup**  
First day of school! UGH! I just wanted to stay home and sleep in! But there was only two more years of school I needed to endure. Besides, it was my birthday, whoopee! After the summer job I had taken this summer, I had finally earned enough money to buy a car… It'll be a worn-out car but it will at least be a vehicle I could drive to and from school with.

Honestly, I don't _need_ a car (I mean, I can fly and run really fast), but everyone I knew passed the license test (including me) over a year ago, so it was just as good to try and follow the stream.

Insecurity really suited me…

Betty, Becca, and I flew the usual route over the bridge, the city hall, and the farms to get to our school.

Betty instantly ran to the science nerds' classrooms on the other side of the building. _And_ to Dainton Hannigan, her cute, but totally wimpy boyfriend. You know, constantly studying, wears glasses, and brags about his father who owns an IT company. He's extremely similar to Betty, so kudos to her, I guess.

The guy she dated before Dainton, Stan Warrington, was a genuine, wash-proof hunk. I really mean it; he was hot! This year, he started at some grand college so he won't be coming back here any time soon.

Becca strutted off to her little geek friends that I don't even know the names of. Those people who have their little "save the animals"-clubs and stuff; the invisible ones. That little group of friends must be the last virgins in school… lacking better words. No guys were looking their way, at all. I find that sad considering Becca's my sister, so of _course_ she's super cute. She should be having boys run after her all day long.

And I, I went to the back of the school where all the cool people hang. The guys and girls that smoked, partied every weekend, and all around had a badass time. The cheerleaders and the whole football team, _including_ the captain (Surely, I am a bad ass. Yeah, sure…). The basketball team…but not the team captain. _Absolutely_ not the captain. He's one of the dipshits Mojo Jojo created to crush me and my sisters, who Him later revived, and we still hated them.

One of them, Liam Berger, his name now, was the captain of our school's basketball team. He became the captain as early as the first day he and his brothers started this school, last year. The captain before him, Brandon Smith, was expelled due to drug possession. It was a little _too_ coincidental if you ask me. The day Liam changed the team's name from "Townsville High School Supermen" to "Townsville High Mohawks", everyone in the team cut their hair just like his.

Liam had these dark green eyes, eyebrow piercings, military jacket, and black Mohawk, which didn't really fit right with his Texan accent he had embraced while growing up in Fort Davis with his brothers and adoptive parents. Nothing about him seemed to fit right. But under the jacket, I heard he had much "nicer" clothes – those kinds of clothes rich people and snobs wear.

If it wasn't for the fact that he was a total fucktard, I would think he is pretty hot. Ugh…I get chills just thinking about it. I hate him.

"Happy birthday, BC." Teased Gordon Jones; the Center of the football team. He's tall, blonde and blue-eyed. Really hot, but nothing more than that.

"Brooke." I hissed.

"Easy, B." one of my dearest friends, Tilly West, cooed. She is a cheerleader, skinny, sweet with long reddish blonde hair. "Happy birthday. Did you go to the 'Scream and Crash' festival this summer?"

"Of course," I answered.

Technically I was never _inside_ the festival area, Professor would never allow that. But I _was_ standing in the woods surrounding the festival, listening to the music from outside the whole weekend.

"Oh god, I'm so jealous! Is there going to be a party at your house tonight, then?"

"I don't think so. Professor said we could invite some friends to like, drink coffee and eat cake, so I don't think it'll be much partying over there. But can we have a night out? Hang at the regular spot?"

"So you were serious when you said you didn't want to have a big party this year?"

"Seriously, yes. Photographers would come and the magazines would write a lot of stuff about us and…" I whined.

"Okay, okay!" Tilly laughed and patted my arm. "But sure, we'll fix some booze and it'll all be a-okay."

"I'm home alone this weekend." Robin Snyder said. She was another cheerleader with short, dark brown hair. She and I had been best friends since we were little and she was still new on the street. "You'll get a drunkening for free because it's your birthday."

We called it drunkening because it was a mix between "being drunk" and "happening". And it also meant that you got so drunk, you didn't remember a thing the day after.

I smiled at her while taking a smoke from my freshly lit cig. "Good, drunkening in the park tonight and party at Robin's this weekend!"

 **Blossom**  
"Happy birthday!"

Dainton was wearing his white jeans today, complimented by his white shirt with a black Japanese dragon on the back. He had on his red Converse with lime green shoe laces and I noticed he had bought new glasses – Calvin Klein, black. His pale blue eyes shined at me through the lens. His hair was, as usual, dark blonde and stood up on his head in a modern 'do.

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

Dainton kissed me on the cheek while giving me a hug. At the same time, put his hand on my butt. He had never done that in public before!

"Dainton!" I exclaimed and put my hand on my butt where his hand had been. There was an envelope inside my pocket.

"Just a little something for your birthday…but it'll get better, that's not all." He said casually.

"You shouldn't have…" I had a big smile on my face and he gestured I should open the envelope.

Inside I found a folded postcard where he had written my name and drawn a picture. The art piece represented me on a stage together with an old man with shades. We were singing together into a microphone.

"You really suck at drawing!" I laughed and unfolded the postcard, which revealed two tickets of some sort. I read the text on them. "You really shouldn't have! How did you get…weren't they sold out?" I held in my hand two tickets for a concert with ME2 and just stared at him. "Tonight, I…I… Thank you!"

I hugged him as tight as I could without hurting him and kissed him until the school bell rang three minutes later.

"See you in the Assembly hall; I need to meet up with my class!" Dainton waved and trotted away.

I sat next to him and Becca in the Assembly hall twenty minutes later. I had a low-key discussion with Becca about the tickets I had gotten from Dainton while Principal Williams held a speech on the stage.

"What?" Becca wheezed. "I thought they were sold out!"

"They were." Dainton chuckled.

"Could you fix five more, for me and my friends? Or only one for me? I don't care!"

"I'm sorry, Becca." Said Dainton with a shrug. "I actually bought them right away at the release. I can't do anything."

Becca sighed hopelessly.

I couldn't see Brooke in the Assembly hall with us. I guess she was with her friends at the football arena, smoking. Like usual.

While the freshmen were called to the stage one by one, I dreamed of the concert I would attend this evening.

 **Bubbles**  
I really don't get it! All these weeks we knew ME2 were having a concert. We had searched and searched but all the tickets were already sold out. Now Betty had gotten one from her boyfriend as a birthday present!

At lunch break, I sat with my best friends.

Mathilda Turner: A Native American. She's a tall, slender girl with reddish brown skin and long, beautiful shiny black hair and high cheekbones.

Ginger Campbell: She's shorter and paler than me, with light brown, short hair. She had kind of "boyish" clothes and green eyes.

Jessica Ishihara: Part Japanese, she's a short girl with short and shiny, black hair and stylish clothes her parents chose for her.

And Henrietta Price: A pretty big girl with dyed black hair with pink ends, blue eyes, and black clothes.

We sat on a bench in the schoolyard and I was just going to tell them about the tickets when Jessica all of a sudden pulled out a wrapped package from her little black leather bag.

"Happy birthday!"

I took the gift and unwrapped it instantly. Inside it was a pretty, light blue notebook with a couple of glittery pens.

"It's a good thing your birthday is at the beginning of the school year," Jessica said.

"Thanks! But you didn't have to give me anything…" I started.

"This is from Mathilda and me!" Ginger cut me off and pulled out a smaller box from her bag. In the package, I found a wallet with dolphins on it – my favorite animal.

"It's so cute! Thanks, guys…" I sighed. Henrietta squirmed a little in her seat and looked down into her lap. "It's okay. I don't need anything from you."

"But…well, I…bought something anyway!" she laughed and pulled out the biggest box of the three from a plastic bag she had had by her feet under the table. "It's nothing special, really."

Henrietta's gift was a stuffed animal dog with a big nose and big shiny eyes. I looked at the dog for a second before I dramatically hugged it. "Thanks, all of you! I love the gifts, guys."

After that, I told them about the tickets and they got as disappointed as I did.

"What?" Jessica seemed to lose hope in a second. "Well, _we_ are going to see the concert on TV tonight."

"TV-night at Becca's!" Ginger exclaimed.

"Alright, then," I said with approval.

"It's sad Professor won't let you sneak in there. I mean, it wouldn't be that hard for you." Said Ginger with a crooked smile.

"But as he says it's not honest. If I didn't pay then I shouldn't take. I just hate that the tickets were sold out so fast!" I said.

Mathilda gazed over at the skateboard ramp near the school parking before she turned to us again. "Did you hear that Linda broke up with Leo?" she whispered nonchalantly, like she had just thought of it.

"What?" that was Jessica's usual response to everything. "When?"

"Like, two weeks ago, but they apparently kept it a secret. It was Melissa that told me that Linda found another boyfriend."

"Now Leo is available for you, Ginger." Jessica winked at her.

"No, I don't know…" she gave me an unsure glance.

The month before we finished our sophomore year I told Ginger a big secret, a secret only she knew of and swore to never reveal even if her life depended on it. It was a secret about Leo, whom I've been crushing on since the start of our sophomore year when he first moved here. He had blonde hair, big blue eyes, and _the_ most beautiful smile in the whole world. And we had almost everything in common!

But…he was also one of the Rowdyruff boys Mojo Jojo created as an enemy for Betty, Brooke and me when we were six years old. Though Leo wasn't a bad guy. He was super nice and wouldn't hurt a fly. It was his _brothers_ , Luke and Liam, who's mean nowadays. Though, they couldn't destroy the city anymore like they did before, since their powers were removed and banned when they were inscribed as ordinary and honorable citizens.

Right after my sisters and I caught them for the last time Professor decided to give them a second chance. That second chance was to inject them with Antidote X – to remove their powers for good – and transfer them to live with a doctor and his wife in Fort Davis, Texas. The couple received them like they were their own sons.

Leo and his brothers started at the same High School as me and my sisters last year. At first, I was angry when Leo Berger was assigned to a project with me on the first day. My annoyance only grew when he talked funny to me, like he was some sort of cowboy. Since he didn't stop with his southern talking cowboy act I was forced to confront him.

"What is your problem? Why are you talking like that?" I asked him, annoyed.

"Like what?" he asked, surprised.

He was several inches taller than me and looked down at me like a big, friendly dog looks at a cocky little kitten that can't do any harm.

"Like you're some kind of cowboy. Do you think you're tough or something?"

I had never been this mean to anyone before, and I started to hate him even more for making me into this angry person.

"Oh…you don't know?"

"Don't know what?" I snapped. I was in no mood for games.

Leo combed his shoulder length hair back with his fingers and put his other hand in his front pocket. "I'm only a school kid during the day. At night, I'm the protector of horse and cattle, ma'am." He said in a heavy southern accent.

Even though I knew he was making fun of me I couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Nah, I grew up in Fort Davis, Texas, with my brothers. I didn't notice I had an accent. Sorry for annoying you, Bubbles."

"My name's Becca."

"Yeah, right… Sorry, Becca."

I felt stupid for scolding him because of his accent. After that, we talked more normally to each other. One thing led to another and we started to accept each other. Or I accepted him and started to really like him. At the beginning, we hated all three of them, but when I discovered how kind Leo was and what type of classes he took; the same classes as I did and still do (Marine Trainees and Science C.), we became friends and I started to get feelings for him.

Last year, I expected him to ask me to be his prom date. It was starting to feel like he was feeling the same for me as I did for him…but he went with Linda instead.

One day, when Mathilda, Jessica, and Henrietta tried to make me admit that I was in love with Leo, Ginger stepped forward like a knight in shining armor and said that it was her who liked him and not me. She saved me from having my sisters figuring out I liked him, a _Rowdyruff_.

Ginger cleared her throat and glanced at three guys who were walking past us (without seeing us) to the school building. It was Leo and two of his friends. "No," she said. "He dated Linda for four months. I don't think he'll get over her that easily."

 **Professor**  
The girls should be home any minute. It was two o'clock and Blossom said they would've finished their first day at this time. It only took them a second to fly home, while it takes thirty minutes for the bus that they would've taken if they hadn't been Townsville's, and all of America's, heroines with super powers.

Just as I took the cake out from the oven, I heard voices outside on the driveway. When the door opened, the voices got louder and faster.

"…you know I didn't mean it that way! What's wrong with you?"

"Becca…"

A door on the second floor slammed and Blossom and Buttercup entered the kitchen.

"But…Brooke, why is Becca upset?"

"She is just sensitive, that's all."

"But what you told her in school wasn't nice!" Blossom sat down on a chair and pulled out a couple of books from her bag. "You should apologize."

"You weren't even there!"

"What did you tell her?" I asked with a serious glance at Buttercup, who stood by the kitchen entrance.

"Nothing, I said! When will Mayor and Ms. Bellum arrive?"

"Whatever you said that made her this upset, you should apologize for. Mayor and Ms. Bellum will arrive soon. Betty, would you be a dear and help me with the glaze? I need to put some stuff away in the living room." I started walking towards the door when I turned around. "Uhm, I just want it to say…well, you know, 'happy birthday, girls'."

 **Buttercup**  
"Well? Are you going to apologize to her?" Beatrice had just written on the cake with pink, green and blue glaze when we heard knocking on the door. "She _is_ your sister. You shouldn't say stuff like that to her."

I didn't want to fight anymore so I just said, "Fine, I'll do it …" But when I opened the door to Becca's bedroom, a pillow flew out and hit my face. "What the…?!"

"Go away! You're not welcome in here!"

"Stop being such a baby. Mayor and Ms. Bellum just arrived, and in half an hour our friends will be here, too. Are you going to sit up here and mope all night?"

"Yes!" she had dug her face into another pillow on her bed.

"Hey…" I sat down by her feet. "I wanted to say sorry. You know how I am, right? I say mean things without trying to be mean. You're my sister and I would never hurt you on purpose." Even though I hadn't said anything mean to her – in my opinion – I was more than eager to stop the fighting.

"Okay…"

"I'm sorry. Wanna go downstairs?"

 **Bubbles**  
I took a seat near the wall at the table in the kitchen. What Brooke had said to me was true, I admit, but she also knows how bad my self-esteem is. What she said in school, just before we flew home, was that she was far better looking and more popular than me, that she had more guys than I.

It all started with her asking me if I like any boy at school and I answered no. Then she just said it, blurted it out. It may have been true but I didn't want it thrown in my face like that. She didn't have to mention it.

Or… Maybe she didn't say it like that with those words, but… We both know what she meant. Or maybe it's just was me over exaggerating because I just had found out that Leo now was single and I couldn't do anything about it because I'm a chicken.

Okay, this is what happened:

When school was over for the day Brooke found me by my locker. "There you are, hiding." She said with a wide smile. "Is it a guy?"

"I'm not hiding." I hastily answered. "Let's go home."

She looked around at the people near the lockers – most of the students had already gone to the bus or parking lot to go back home. "What's his name?" she teased and turned to face me.

"There's no one! I mean nothing…"

"So there _is_ a guy?"

"Cut it out!"

"Come on! All you have to do is talk to him. I promise he won't bite you, whoever he is."

"So you're suggesting I don't know how to talk to boys? Because you have almost every guy at school?"

She stared at me, hurt. "Ouch. Thanks…I guess."

"Enough! I don't wanna stand here and yap with you!" I flew away with Brooke and Betty right behind me while I shouted that Brooke was insensitive.

I guess it was just me being hypersensitive…

"I should apologize." I said to Brooke who sat at the table with me and Betty. "I overreacted."

"It's okay." She said and winked at me.

Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica, and Henrietta's arrival made me much happier. We were going to have a super cozy evening at my room, eat popcorn, drink tea, and watch ME2's concert live on TV.

There were a few people in the backyard that afternoon eating cake, drinking coffee, and lemonade, all laughing. There were my sisters (including me), Professor, Mayor, Ms. Bellum, my friends, Betty's boyfriend Dainton, her friend Mindy, and Brooke's friends Robin and Tilly. In total, we were fourteen people sharing a big birthday cake.

"Happy birthday, girls. Townsville's and all of America's heroines!" Mayor said when the cake plate was empty and raised his glass of lemonade. "Cheers!"

The rest of us raised our glasses and cups and cheered with Mayor.

Betty waited for Mayor, Ms. Bellum, Brooke and her friends to go before she asked Professor if it was okay that she went to the concert with Dainton. At first, he hesitated and wanted to talk to her in private. But that private session was over quickly since he realized that nothing would ever happen to Betty cause, you know, super powers?

Six hours later, my best friends and I, laid on my bed, with our eyes locked on the TV while grabbing big fists of popcorn.

"This is going to be awesome!" said Mathilda.

"But it would be more awesome if we were _at_ the concert…" Ginger grunted with her mouth full of popcorn.

During intermission of the concert, a cell phone rang. My cell phone. The guys hadn't noticed it yet so I stood up and went to my desk where it was charging. My heart almost stopped when I saw who was calling.

"Who is it?" Henrietta asked.

"Leo… I'm just gonna take this."

"Now he's coming crawling back! Didn't I tell you that, Becca? You're like peas and carrots; he can't be away from his best girl-friend if his life depended on it!" Mathilda said happily. _Well, he could have called two weeks ago, then…_

"Tell Mr. Cowboy we said howdy!" Ginger said with a wink.

"Cowboy?" I raised one brow. Never heard _that_ one before.

"Yeah, that's so sexy!" Mathilda said with a wide smile. "But hurry up and answer, you don't want him to wait, right?" she lowered her voice. "And add a good word for Ginger, eh?"

Everyone, except for me and Ginger, giggled as I left my room and went into Brooke's room. She wouldn't mind seeing as she wasn't home.

"Yeah, hello?"

" _Hi, Becca. It's Leo_." His Texas accent _was_ sexy, I thought with a sigh.

"Hi."

" _Well, I just wanted to say happy birthday. I didn't see you anywhere at school today, are you ill or anything_?"

Actually, I made sure he wouldn't see me in school. Every time I saw him I hid. It helped that we didn't have any classes together today. I didn't really know _why_ I hid. We had been best friends for almost a year…until…

"Thanks! No, I don't know why we didn't see each other." I fibbed and felt heat go through my body. I always grew nervous when I talked to him. My stomach was in butterflies. "I'm not sick."

" _Okay, that's good. Soo… What's up? I was thinking maybe you wanted to hang out, or something? If you're not doing anything already, I mean… I guess you already are. It's your birthday, after all, and you're not sick…_ " he talked fast, as if he was nervous.

"I'm watching ME2's concert with the guys," I said, decided to play dumb. "Aren't you going to hang out with Linda, anyways? You're always with her and she doesn't like it when you're hanging out with me."

We didn't see each other, Leo and I, the entire summer break, for the most part, because Linda didn't want us to. Only in a few public places like The Skate House and the park could we see each other. One time, almost two months ago, it had even gone so far that when Leo saw me in the bowling alley, he had turned right back around and almost started sprinting. I ran after him and asked him what was going on. That's when he told me. Linda had forbidden him to see me. It had been our biggest fight ever and after that, we stopped talking to each other.

My friends had told me that that was how life was. Boys sometimes listened _too much_ to what their girlfriends say. It was only Ginger who knew how I really felt about him and understood how devastated I actually was.

" _It didn't really work out for the two of us,_ " Leo said and my heart skipped a beat. " _We actually broke up two weeks ago. Maybe I should've said something. I mean, you're like, my best girl-bro…_ "

"Thanks, you're like…my best guy-bro."

Leo was quiet for a bit. " _I owe you an apology for what happened between us_."

"It's already forgotten. But I feel sad about you and Linda."

" _Yeah…sure. Well then, I know that you're doing stuff. I'm watching the concert, too, but…by myself_." He chuckled. " _With that being said, see ya_."

"Wait, wait! You can come over and watch the concert with us…if you want to?"

Hello again! This was the first chapter from the first out of three books with my version of the Powerpuff girls. As you may have already figured out, these chapters are looong. They're between 5000 and 8000 words long and there are 18 chapters in this novel.  
It took me about two days to translate this and spellcheck it, but I think there's still bad grammar here and there.  
All I need to know now is: do you want more of this story? I'm asking cause it took a long time for me to translate, and a comment (even one) would really make my day and keep me motivated

Please leave a comment and thank you for reading! I will answer every comment I get in the beginning of the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 2 - Forbidden love (edited)

Thank you for reading! I see I have one follower/favorite! **Knight0fHeart013** thank you so much! Hope you'll like this next chapter!

And as always I want to thank **Asuki-sama** for editing these chapters; making them more professional!

 **Forbidden Love**

 **Buttercup**  
We didn't go to the park as planned because of all the late-night strollers who took up residence there, so we went to a construction site instead. Fred and Clyde, two people I only knew by name, made a hole under the fence so that the rest of us could sneak into an unfinished house. The fifteen of us, all whom I knew, but whose names are unnecessary for this story, brought their own booze and food. Some of us had even brought disposables barbecues!

My friends and I were just jumping around. Tilly had her big brother's stereo with her. The song that was playing was an old classic with _lots_ of bass. My heart will go on… We weren't too serious about the dancing.

Olivia, a new French girl from school, vomited somewhere behind a stack of wooden boards while some guys laughed at her from a distance. I guess she was already having _her_ drunkening.

After half a bottle of vodka, two packages of cigarettes, and some cider, I approached Eric, a new player in the football's team I hadn't been with yet, and started to fool around with him. He didn't disagree, of course.

Later that night, when it started to get dark and chilly, I sat down next to Robin near a disposable barbecue, the dying flame keeping us warm. We were both pretty tired after trying to make me drunk and all the dancing.

"So what's the deal with your sister? I haven't seen her with a guy since…ever!" Robin said with a smoke between her fingers, taking a break from sucking face with Roy, the captain of the football's team.

"Becca? I don't know… She hasn't talked to me or Betty about it. I guess she's scared of guys." Look who's talking, considering I needed alcohol to talk to the male gender.

I took a big gulp of my bottle of vodka I bought from Robin's older brother Christopher, our private booze-dealer.

"Roy?" Robin asked, looking at the gang of guys who were laughing at something. A dark haired, handsome guy answered with a "hm". "Could you maybe do us a favor? Or… Do someone else a favor?

All I remembered of the rest of the evening was that I laughed, a lot. That Becca became angry and cried. That I fought some kind of a bug or…lizard that had appeared in the city. The morning after, I woke up with a splitting headache. When I went downstairs to eat breakfast, nobody talked to me, or even looked at me… I guess I had a damn good drunkening.

 **Professor**  
 _Tuesday night_  
I know my girls can handle just about anything, but it still felt like I had some kind of obligation as a parent to worry about them. Bubbles was fine. She was in her bedroom with her friends, watching the concert on TV. I was more worried about Buttercup, who went out somewhere with her friends without her cell phone, and Blossom who was _attending_ the concert Bubbles was watching on TV!

I was in the living room, sitting on my favorite chair in front of the fireplace, reading the papers and smoking my pipe. When the concert had a break, Bubbles told me she was going to meet up with another friend of hers who also wanted to watch it with them. Blossom called me during the break and told me that everything was fine and that there was no alcohol in her vicinity. I told her that if someone stood next to her with a cigarette in their hand… she then cut me off saying "Then I would tell them to please butt it, go stand somewhere else, or just walk away myself." She's the best, my little Blossom, but the other two are the best, as well.

Fifteen minutes later, Bubbles was still out. The break couldn't be that long, could it? I thought the concert was important for her.

Precisely five minutes past ten, the emergency phone rang. It was Mayor. The girls were incapable of answering it right then, so I did so for them.

"What happened?" I asked, astonished that the dusty machine still worked.

"The girls need to come now! Fast! The city is in danger!" Mayor shouted before slamming the phone and hung up.

Lucky I could just forward the message to their cell phones.

 **Bubbles**  
I told Leo I would meet him halfway. It took fifteen minutes for him to ride his skateboard to my house and I wanted to meet him there by foot because I fancied walking more than flying. _But_ , I thought furtively, _I also didn't want to ruin my hair I was fixing before leaving the house, either_.

I met him around half way. When I saw him, the ground softened beneath my feet. It felt like I was going to fall right through it. He really made me nervous!

Leo's shoulder length, wavy hair. His wide smile. His deep, dark blue eyes. His long, slender body. His perfect fashion style. Everything about him made me weak-kneed.

I hugged him, thinking it would comfort him a bit about his ceased relationship. Leo was about *twenty-five centimeters taller than me, so when we hugged it felt like I was going to disappear into his big, soft shirt. His hug was warm and soft and smelled…like him. He had his own scent, unique.

"How are you holding up?" I carefully asked him when we let go of the hug.

"I'm fine. How are _you_? You seem a little low." his wide smile started to relax and his dark blue eyes looked vague, unfocused.

"I'm fine, too," I answered and felt around in my pocket. I had forgotten my cell at home. "What time is it?"

"Ten to ten."

"Maybe we should hurry home if we don't want to miss the concert. Here, take my hand, let's fly…"

But Leo didn't take my hand. He had a crooked smile on his face and tried to catch his breath. "Is it that important to you?" he asked.

"Yes…or, no…a little…or, I don't know…"

"In that case, do you wanna do something else instead? There's something I want to talk to you about and it's still warm outside."

"Sure… Let's go to the lake, I usually go there when I…need to think."

We walked along the street, which was linked with the city through a bridge over the lake, and sat down on a bench when we arrived. The sun had already set by the horizon but the orange light still painted the sky.

"How was the first day for you?" I asked. Not to break any awkward silence, or anything, but to start a conversation.

"It was okay…you?"

"It was okay for me, too."

We chatted for a while, about everything under the sky (as we always did when we were together. Only, it had never felt this intense), and for some reason or another, we started talking about Leo's ex.

"Why'd you guys break up?"

"She said she didn't like me… Apparently, she never did. She just wanted someone for arm candy. Two weeks ago, during summer break, she got fed up with me. Mostly because her friends didn't leave the country for any vacations, so she didn't need me anymore."

"Girls are swine."

"Not all…" he turned his face towards me and the last of the sun's rays lit it up. "There's something I've wanted to do for a long time …"

He confidently put his hand on mine and looked deep into my eyes. It felt like a movie. Butterflies fluttered around in my stomach like they had never done before. He caressed my hand with his thumb and scooted a little closer… But then…

"What up, Becca!" a black haired, muscular guy approached us on unsteady legs.

"Who…are you?" I asked and stood up. The moment was over.

"I haven't had the courage to tell you this before. I usually check you out at school. You're really cute, you know. I've been drinking a bit, you see, or else I would have never had the courage to say this."

"Thanks… I guess?" I looked at Leo, trying to get support from him. He looked back with wide eyes and a wrinkled forehead.

The drunk guy stumbled a little trying to get closer to me. He wasn't even looking at me. "Your eyes are glistening and your lips look so soft…"

"Maybe you should go home," Leo said firmly. "Try to sleep on it, talk to her tomorr…"

"Can't I have a hug?" he started to cling onto my neck. If had been a normal girl he would've tackled me to the ground already.

"Hey, get off of her!" Leo shoved the guy away so that he stumbled backward a few steps. "Come on, Becca…" Leo grabbed my arm and started to lead me away from the scene, keeping his skateboard under his other arm. "You don't deserve to be talked to by a wasted asshole."

Brooke jumped out from a bush, with all her friends. They were laughing.

"What did you just call me?" the drunken stranger shouted at Leo and started to rapidity approach him.

Leo stepped in front of me and stood protectively over me when the stranger shoved him, making him lose control of his balance.

"Hey!" I shouted when Leo almost slammed right into me. I pushed the drunkard away from Leo. It was too late when I realized that I had pushed him a little _too_ hard. He flew about *five meters, slamming straight into the water. "Buttercup! What are you doing?"

"My name is…Brooke!" she giggled happily while clinging on her friend. Both of them were laughing their asses off. She saw Leo standing next to me and seemed to immediately sober up. "But…you? Him, Becca! Him?! What are you doing with _him_?! He's the enemy! Remember?"

"That's none of your business!" I shouted and felt tears starting to burn the inside of my nose and throat.

Brooke landed right in front of me. "Do you even know what you're doing? Do you even know who that is?"

"Brooke, listen…" Leo tried.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" she yelled at him before turning to me again. "What do you think you are doing?!"

I couldn't utter a word and felt tears streaming down my face.

I suddenly saw a pink light in the sky. A pink light that had nothing to do with the sunset.

"Drop it, both of you!"

 **Blossom**  
I got the message from Professor but didn't see it until five minutes after it had been sent. I apologized to Dainton and hurried away from the concert. I swung by home real quick to check with Professor about where the other two were, but he hadn't seen them. I assumed that Becca and Brooke had been fighting again so I flew to Becca's usual place down by the lake. There she stood, tears in her eyes, with Brooke yelling at her. I shouted that they should hurry up, that we had a job to do.

Becca dropped someone off at their place, someone I didn't get see before they whisked off. I could only glimpse them for a second, noticing only the person's distinctly masculine gait. I wasn't very concerned about this little detail. There was hardly any time to. We had a job to do. After that, we rushed to the city. The whole way there, Becca and Brooke were brawling and quarreling with one another.

"Focus!" I shouted and stopped dead in the air. "Can't you two wait until we get home to start creating problems?"

"But she…!"

"When we get home, Brooke! Come on, we don't have time to fight!"

The city didn't _look_ ruined and broken. But there was some weird, gluey, yellowish green slime everywhere. And the city was quiet. Dead quiet. No screams, no cars…

"Ew…mucus…" I heard Becca cry behind me as I knocked at the nearest window to ask what was going on.

"They're everywhere! Everywhere, I tell you! Look, there's one of them now!" the woman who had opened the window closed it hastily after she had pointed towards the opposite building.

There it was. A peculiar looking animal that looked almost like a big, transparent lizard. I struck the first blow and the lizard-thing fell to the ground where it remained motionless.

"Another one!" Becca screeched and pointed to an alley full of trash cans.

"He's mine," Brooke called like she had already forgotten the fight between her and Becca (not that it was a bad thing). But she flew straight through a window and showed up behind the building. She had made a big hole in the facade after which she sank into a pile on the ground.

"Oh, good lord… She is drunk, isn't she?" I asked Becca who nodded her head.

We were by ourselves, Becca and me, but we got them all. After that, we carried Brooke home again.

 **Professor**  
Together, Blossom and Bubbles shared what had happened, why they were so late answering the call, and why Buttercup had to be carried home and put to bed right away.

"I thought I had raised her well…" I dug my face into my palms where I sat in my chair.

"It's not your fault, Professor." Said Blossom, patting my shoulder reassuringly. "She's just socializing with the wrong people. Don't blame this all on yourself."

Bubbles was sitting, leaned back, quiet with her head resting on the couch's backrest.

"What actually happened over there, Becca? By the water." Blossom asked and I saw a tear drop down Bubbles' cheek.

"I was sitting on a bench with…a friend and we were just talking. Then…a guy came, he was drunk, and he started to say stuff like he liked me or whatever… Then Brooke jumped out of a bush with her friends and started laughing. I guess they were just fucking with me… Oops, sorry, Professor."

"It's fine, it's fine…" I said while waved off the slip. I really didn't like that word and Bubbles had never said it before, but it was irrelevant right now. "The big question is: what has gotten into Buttercup? Why is she doing this to her sisters and, above all, herself?"

"Oh, that…! That was the meanest thing she could ever have done, Becca! Who was the guy? What did you talk about?"

"That's not important, Betty," I told her severely.

"Of course it is! There's a difference between talking to a friend and talking to a guy you're in _love_ with! You shouldn't sabotage moments like that, especially when it's about your _first_ love!" I had no idea where that came from. I looked questioningly at Blossom but she ignored me. She was completely furious. She was pointing between Bubbles and Buttercup's bedroom upstairs.

She exhaled a deep breath of air. "Becca… you know you can talk about everything with me…" she said when she was a little bit calmer. She scooted closer to Bubbles and put an arm around her shoulders.

"But I can't talk about _him_! That's a thing you would _never_ understand!" I was at a loss about the sudden turn of events.

Bubbles pushed her arm aside, burst out crying, flew up to her room and slammed the door. Her friends had already left when they had heard that Bubbles was going to fight the monsters.

"What was that all about?" I sighed.

"I don't know, Professor…" Blossom shook her head, looking as tired as I felt, and slowly stood up. "I should go get Dainton. It's a long commute from Seattle to Townsville when you don't know how to fly yourself. See you tomorrow morning. You should get some sleep, too, Professor. Good night, dad." She kissed my cheek and went to the door.

"Where have my cute little Powerpuff girls gone?" I said quietly to myself.

 **Blossom**  
I told Dainton everything on our way home from Seattle. About the monsters we had fought, about Brooke and her rebellious personality, how she ruined Becca's first chance at love. It wasn't a secret that Brooke was usually out partying and drinking with her friends every chance she got, which was normally during the weekends or at night. We would ordinarily keep it secret from Professor for her. But if she thought we were going to keep it a secret this time, then she was dead wrong. This time, she had crossed the line. Above all, I was so angry that I had missed the concert Dainton had paid for. And that I almost hurt him when I flew us home.

"It's okay, Betty!" he moaned and started massaging his armpits after we landed on his driveway. "I can take you to the movies or something on Friday. It's not your fault. You are who you are, and you're good at fighting evil, be proud of that. Don't worry about the concert."

"I guess you're right." I sighed. "See you tomorrow at school. You can sleep in and fly with me to school."

"It's too cold in the mornings; the air will make me sick." Dainton laughed. "Changing subject…isn't our first anniversary this Saturday?"

"Oh, yeah, you're totally right! I had almost forgotten… I mean, I can't forget because of my photographic memory…and I would never forget anything that includes you. But with everything that happened today and…"

"Don't worry… about a thing…" Dainton started to sing and I sighed right before giggling. "… 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright!" he swung me around while singing and when we stopped he kissed me on the forehead. "Happy birthday, Betty."

When I woke up the next morning, I suddenly remembered the night before. I was still mad at Brooke. But I was also worried about how Becca was doing. I looked at my alarm clock next to my bed. It was fifteen minutes past six. I usually got up at seven. I stood up anyways and went upstairs to Becca's bedroom. She was awake. I could hear her sobbing through the little gap by the door. When I opened it, she stopped crying immediately and pretended to sleep. I laid down next to her and began comb through her hair with my fingers. She began sobbing again and dug her face into the pillow.

 **Professor**  
 _Wednesday_  
The morning after couldn't have been any worse. At seven o'clock, I got up to prepare breakfast and lunch for the girls. Blossom was the first one in the kitchen. She looked pretty sad while helping me set up the table.

"Becca wanted to stay home today. Can she? Pretty please, Professor? She's really upset about what happened yesterday." I looked at Blossom who had sat down by the table. "You don't have to tell her I told you, but I can tell you to make you understand a bit better…"

"She had a crush on a boy. They were just going to tell each other how they felt when one of Brooke's friends came and ruined the moment." I said while looking down.

"Yeah…"

"I'll bring her breakfast to her room. Then I'll call the school and tell them she's ill. This is going to be the first time she's miss a school day. That's bad, but…I guess she's feeling so much worse."

Buttercup entered the kitchen. "Professor…I feel sick today…"

I turned around and looked out the window above the sink. I had no idea what to say. How should a parent behave after hearing that his seventeen-year-old daughter had gotten drunk? "You're going to school today, Brooke… Then we're going to talk, right after school's over. Sit down and eat your breakfast."

"But…what…?" she sighed as I was still looking out the window. "Oh…well, okay… How is…?"

"Becca? Not so good." Blossom hissed. "How could you, Brooke? Why…"

"No fighting, please," I begged and began putting the bread and cheese onto the table. "It's enough that I'll talk to her later. Go ahead and prepare for school, chop chop."

 **Buttercup**  
When I realized what it was that Professor wanted to talk to me about, I felt so ashamed of what I had done. I couldn't understand why I did that to Becca… I mean, all I remembered was that she was talking to her crush, but I had no idea who he was…

The big question is: how did I get home? I was praying Professor didn't see me drunk – this was the worse drunkening I had ever had – he would ground me for life.

I sat down opposite to Betty. She put the newspaper in front of her face, probably because she didn't even want to look at me. Professor put a plate in front of me with some toast and an… aspirin.

Oh, God, he knew… Busted.

 **Bubbles**  
After Professor left my room, he had offered to listen to what I had to say and left a breakfast plate, I just stayed in bed. I laid there for hours with shut curtains; ashamed… So ashamed over what had transpired yesterday. It wasn't my fault that Brooke did what she did, but now Leo probably thought that there was something wrong with my family. He probably didn't want to be a part of it anymore.

 _He was going to kiss me_ … I was thinking over and over again. _I was finally going to have my first kiss, with Leo Berger. The boy I've been crushing on for over a year; my big love… And now… Now he probably doesn't want to see me ever again. He'll never talk to me_ _again…_

I heard Professor open and close the door. He asked me if I wanted to go to Townsville city with him to shop for furniture; he wanted a new coffee table for the living room. But I didn't want to… I didn't have any energy left. I just wanted to lie there in the darkness and just be sad.

At one o'clock, the doorbell rang, but I didn't open it. I didn't even get up from the bed. It rang again. After a few minutes, I heard a 'click' coming from one of my windows. And again – someone was throwing pebbles at it.

I got curious on whom it was. What if it was Leo who had come to tell me he wasn't going to ignore me for the rest of my life? Like in a movie! I flew up from the bed and stood by the window. Beneath it wasn't Leo. It was the dark haired drunk guy from yesterday.

I opened the window and asked: "What do you want _now_? To play Romeo and Juliet? Get lost!"

"Please, come down?" he begged.

I sighed and decided to go down and see what he wanted. When I opened the door he was standing there. I could now see the cast on his right arm. I winced slightly. I hated hurting other people.

"Don't worry about this." He said, smiled while he lifted up his arm. "Serves me right. I just wanted to apologize. Brooke told me that you got pretty upset. I was acting like an idiot, I guess… She also apologizes, but she knows that you won't listen to her; so I brought something with me instead." He handed me a little box with his left hand. "From Brooke. And again, I'm sorry. You shouldn't stay home just because of me." He waved at me with his left arm and began walking back to his parked black car.

I wonder what Brooke had bribed him to make him come all this way over here to apologize to me? I still felt bad for hurting his arm. He was the captain of the football's team; his right arm was his throwing arm…

"Sorry for your arm!" I shouted. He turned around while waving and walked backwards.

I closed the door and opened the little package. Inside was a small box. I opened it and discovered a necklace. It was a long, thin chain made of real silver. On the chain was a tiny little dolphin with the text 'ReBecca' engraved onto the animal. There was also a note attached to it:

 _I was going to buy a car with this money. But…when I saw the necklace, I thought it was pretty and was thinking of you. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry and sorry a thousand times over._

I smiled a little and put the necklace around my neck. It actually looked really pretty on me. Brooke couldn't have bought it for all her money? In that case, the dealer tricked her. If Leo talked to me before Friday, I'll forgive her.

 **Blossom**  
At lunch break, Dainton and I sat next to each other under a tree. I was enjoying the warmth. Soon, the winter would be here… and the snow. I was still wondering who Becca's crush was. I had never seen her with anyone other than her girlfriends.

"You know what?" asked Dainton, his head resting on my lap.

"What?" Becca's secret boyfriend could wait.

"I know this is only our second day in school for this year but… this will be our _last_ year together in high school. I'm going to be in _college_ next year."

"Aw… don't say stuff like that."

"Sorry…"

"Well… the year after that we'll meet again." I smiled at him. "And I'll beat you at every class."

"Oh, yeah?" he pushed my head down and kissed me. "We'll see about that!" he started tickling me. I fell down onto my back, unable to do anything but laugh.

"Excuse me…?"

Dainton and I abruptly sat up, and looked at the voice that had interrupted us. It was one of the Rowdyruffs. Leo Berger. He had shoulder length, blonde hair and large blue eyes. He was wearing a thin brown long sleeved t-shirt paired with beige baggy chinos, a pair of DC skating shoes, and a big greyish blue beanie; even though it was really hot outside... but he had rolled up his sleeves.

"Yeah, what?" I asked, a tad rudely while standing up, looking at him like he was crazy. What did he want from me?

"Uhm… Blos… Betty, right?"

"Yes, that's me. What do you want?"

"I was just wondering; do you know where Becca is? I haven't seen her all day."

Then it hit me. Leo Berger – one of Mojo Jojo's heirs – was the guy Becca was in love with. _That's_ why Brooke had been so angry yesterday. And that's why Becca didn't want to tell me who her crush was.

I just stared at him blankly. He started looking nervously around. "Uhm… Maybe you could tell her I was looking for her?" he asked and scratched his hair under his beanie. "And maybe ask her to call me? Her phone is shut off… So, yeah… bye." He walked away, slowly nodding.

"What is it, Betty?" asked Dainton and stood next to me. "Who was he? I've seen him before, with two other dudes who look just like him, but I didn't know you knew them…"

I got why Dainton hadn't seen them that much, considering there were a little over six hundred students attending this school, yet remembered them loud and clear. Mostly because of their backgrounds and unique eye colors like mine and my sisters.

"Those are the guys I was telling you about before, remember?" I said, still shocked. Staring after the boy with blue eyes as he walked through the schoolyard. "Our nemesis Mojo Jojo created them. But they had their powers removed in order to have a normal life. That kid, Leo, is one of them. But why… How can Becca be in love with him…?"

"I know, right?"

I turned around and saw Brooke standing under the tree in the shadows. "Did you…?"

"No, I didn't know before we…ruined the moment. We just thought Becca was sitting there by herself, maybe wanting a little company. We wanted to boost her courage so that she could talk to boys – I know, it was a bad idea from start – but Roy over acted and she was already with another guy… that's when I got mad. I had forgotten about Boomer until I saw him now. All the memories from yesterday just…" Brooke swayed a bit with closed eyes before looking up again. "Man, my head hurts…"

Without paying any attention to the last thing Brooke said, I sat down onto the ground again. "How could everything get so messed up?" I almost became hysterical. "But… Maybe Becca saw something in him that the other two don't possess? Maybe he's not like them anymore."

"Or…maybe that's their plan? They want her to start falling for him…" Brooke said in a low voice. The possibility didn't go unnoticed.

"Should we talk to her about it?"

"I think you should leave her alone." Dainton chimed in. "Maybe he's changed. I've seen him in the same classes as Becca and he's almost never around the other two other than to ride with them to and from school."

"Stay out of this…" muttered Brooke.

"We should talk to her." I said, looking at Dainton and then at Brooke. "See how long they've known each other. I mean, if he just randomly approached her one day and began talking with her then we know something's up. But if not…then he's safe."

 **Buttercup**  
Almost everyone had a free period during P.E. today because it was Selection Day for the football and basketball teams. And don't forget the cheerleading squad. I would have really loved to have a free period, but couldn't… because I was the captain of the cheerleading squad.

I had actually accidentally stumbled into the squad during my freshman year. It began with me and Robin – who's been my best friend since we were little – daring each other to try out to be cheerleaders. It was a joke. We never thought it would ever be serious. So, for shits and giggles, we signed up. To our surprise, they liked us both. All we needed was a bit of training. We just shrugged our shoulders and decided to try it out. And two years later – coming to this year – I was apparently so good they made me the captain. I guess dancing and looking pretty's my calling. _Snort._

So I was now the squad captain and we needed two more girls this year. Olivia, the French girl from the party, was really good at the tryouts and got picked. She was French; we pretty much knew once she opened her mouth.

"Zank you, it is so wonderful you let me take part in ze squad!"

And Nathalie was picked as well. She had tried out last year, had become much better since.

"And has been using a finger or two after her meals during the summer…" laughed Tilly when we walked out the gymnasium.

 **Bubbles**  
 _"Becca, how are you? Where are you? Why aren't you in school?"_

Ginger had called several times during the day, but since my cell was shut off, she was forced to call the land line.

"I'm fine… Something happened yesterday, so I stayed home today. I can tell you more tonight when you guys come over." we told each other everything. I knew I could trust them… It was time to tell the others about my big secret.

"What's it about? Are you okay?"

"It's about Leo. You'll find out more tonight. Can you make it around seven o'clock? We can study at the same time."

"Leo? You sound sad, what happened?"

"I'll tell you tonight."

"Is it okay to let the others know?"

"It's okay."

"I'll bring my notes so you can use them."

"Sounds great, thanks. See ya!"

"See you, too."

Half past four, Betty and Brooke came back from school. Betty went into my room while Brooke went into her own.

"Becca… Well…I know who the guy is." Betty said after closing my door.

"Are you going to bully me about it, too? You don't know him!"

"That's true. Do you?"

"Of course I know him." I looked down at my feet. "Or knew… Maybe I don't know him anymore… I don't know, considering what happened yesterday…"

"I know what you mean." Said Betty a little sympathetically. "How did you begin talking to each other? How can you be sure that he isn't the same Rowdyruff he used to be?"

"I'm certain. He's nothing like his brothers. Even when they were little, he had nothing in common with them. He's been telling me how he used to feel bad after they lost their powers. He said that he was small and dumb and did whatever his brothers and Mojo Jojo wanted him to do. When he got older, he realized that he'd been brainwashed. He couldn't understand why they were always fighting us. Then one day, he discovered that he had a power no one else did. He could talk to animals, just like me."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Betty said. "He has a power? Like, a super power? Like us?"

"Yeah, just like me. He can talk to animals."

"How?"

"I don't know… He doesn't know either. As far as he knows, his brothers don't have anything like that either. That's why he takes the same classes as I, because he wants to work with animals once he's finished his schooling. I want to be a marine biologist, _he_ wants to be a marine biologist. I didn't like him in the beginning, if you really need to know, but then I noticed how nice and…" I dreamily said with a sigh. "On the first day, we were both assigned to the same project. That's when we began becoming friends. That's how I'm sure that he's not evil, we started out as friends over a year ago."

We were both quiet for a bit. Then Betty said: "I just wanted to make sure. And you _do_ still know each other. He approached me during lunch and asked me to ask you to call him. He's been calling your cell phone several times." She smiled and laughed a little. "He really seems to like you a lot."

At seven o'clock, the guys came over and I told them everything. At first, they were surprised that I was the one who was crushing on Leo and not Ginger. But at the same time they had already figured out.

I had had the cell phone on for only five minutes when Leo called. He had sent three texts saying: " _Hey, pick up the phone. It's me, Leo._ ", " _Why aren't you in school? Is it because of me?_ ", and " _What happened yesterday isn't a big deal to me, at all. Please call me when you've seen this._ "

"Becca," I answered the phone nervously.

" _Hi…_ " he said quietly, a bit unsure, but still kind of happy. "Did you get my texts?"

"Yeah, I was just going to call you…" …but I had to boost my courage first, I added mentally.

Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica, and Henrietta were beaming at me, right in front of me. They bounced excitedly on the bed.

" _Oh…so it's cool between us?_ " he asked carefully.

"Yeah, it's cool. I just felt a little bit embarrassed going to school today, you know?"

" _I was hoping we could talk about it today. Would you like to meet up some day and…talk?_ "

"I'd like that. Should we meet up after school tomorrow? By the bridge? Not the big one at the front, the small one at the back, by the gymnasium. We won't have any classes together tomorrow."

" _What time? I'm off at two and promised Clyde to give him a ride to Citiesville, but I'll be back by four._ "

"Four o'clock sounds great. The bridge by the gymnasium?"

" _The bridge by the gymnasium. I'll be waiting for you. See ya!_ "

"See you!"

"Thus Snow White finally gets the prince!" Mathilda exclaimed when I hung up.

"Or rather, Ariel, this _is_ forbidden love, after all… Well, almost." Said Henrietta.

I just smiled at them and opened my math book.


	4. Chapter 3 - Counterparts (edited)

**Asuki-sama** was here! Editing! Making this chapter better! : ) Thank you!

 **Counterparts**

 **Buttercup  
** _Thursday_ **  
**The first basketball game of the season was only a few days away, this Saturday. My squad and I were going to cheer before the game to support the team. Professor gave me permission to go to school and attend the practices and games. The rest of the time, I had a curfew…

After we had changed into our cheer outfits (our school colors are green, yellow and purple), the music started in the gymnasium. We went out there to begin our rehearsal. I was the first one out on the floor. I stood on my mark, and we danced. Hot and glowing, we danced ourselves sweaty. The audience was cheering, loud and overwhelming. Well, in my head at least… We practiced the dance a few more times to really get it down. Once it was over, I felt a true satisfaction only these practices and my pompoms could give me.

Then I saw him. The only person in the world (mutually with his brothers) that could ruin my euphoria. Liam Berger. One of the dipshits Mojo Jojo created to destroy my sisters and me. He was the douchebag with green eyes and dark, skintight clothes whose only purpose was to show off all his muscles. He was walking opposite to me in the hall. The basketball team was going to have their practice soon.

"If you weren't playing for my team, I wouldn't want to throw up every time I hope we would win." I said loudly as he passed us, with the rest of the team behind him with all their uniforms on.

"Easy, Love. It's mah team you're talking about, y' know." He said with his deep, raspy voice and rude Texas accent as he pointed at his captain's tag sewed into his shirt.

I smiled sarcastically and pointed at my own.

"Well, it's not like you're doing anything to help us win." He said with his usual crooked smile, his dark green eyes seemed to glow with jeer. "We're the ones with the ball. All y'all do is fawn during the breaks so that young boys have some naked legs to amuse themselves with."

"I hope you break your face on some lucky bastard's elbow." I hissed and got closer to him.

He was over *two meters tall and at least *four decimeters taller than me, but I wasn't afraid of him. Even though I only reached to his chest. Everybody around us became curious and stopped to watch.

"Cheerleading feels kinda unsuitable for you, don't yah think? Shouldn't you be playing soft ball like every other lesbian?"

He was taunting me because of my choice of fashion – I had been called a tomboy several times, even though I didn't want to label myself. I just liked having comfortable clothes, and baggy clothes were comfortable for me.

"Oh! So I'm homosexual – the right designation of that word that you _should_ use – just because of my fashion style?"

As if he didn't hear me, he responded with: "Did you know your thighs looks fat in that outfit?"

Oh, my God, he's so stupid! He can't even argue right! But man, did he smell good… What am I even thinking?! I resisted the temptation to jump him. If the coach saw me, I would get kicked out of the squad faster than a super powered punch would make Liam fly. So instead of doing anything impulsive, I just stared hatefully at his sneering face.

"Aren't you from a too _conservative_ state to get away with that hairdo?"

He kept sneering at me, but his face took a serious turn and became almost furious after my innuendo – he knew that I had won.

"Cat got your tongue?" I asked.

"Burned." Said Robin and Tilly, giving me a high five each before walking behind me through the hall to the locker rooms.

/"Did you hear that Liam and some of his friends broke into the convenience store again?" Robin asked the rest of us.

We had all showered and were ready to go home. It was only me and three other who hadn't put our clothes on yet. Tilly had already gone to the bus stop.

"Newsflash… How much did they get?" I said angrily.

"I don't know, not much. Are you gonna nail him, B?" Robin sneered at me.

"Nail? Really?"

"Yeah, arrest."

"I know what you mean…" I muttered. "And no. I don't capture petty criminals when there are real dangerous people out there." We were all quiet for a while. "I _hate_ Liam Berger!" I exclaimed after a few attempts to put my top on the right way around.

"We all do, B," said Heather, one of the dancers, "but he _is_ the captain and you can't deny that he's doing really well. He's won every game he's been in. Do you remember that one time he had a hundred and two degree fever and played anyway? Since he was so ill…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, since he was so ill and slow we lost the game… I hate it when you use that against me… But you all can agree on that it's sick that we only win because of him? I still hate him…"

"But don't you think he's hot?" Amber, who had just left the showers, whispered.

"I… think he is… Are you kidding me? If he was the last guy on earth…" the others began laughing. "What?!"

"Love always starts with war, B. You know, like kindergarten." Said Robin. "The little boys pulled the little girls' hair, and the little girls shoved the little boys in the mud…because they were in love."

"So I'm six years old now?"

Nobody said anything. They just sat there and grinned sheepishly. I gathered all my things and walked out the locker room without waiting for Robin to get ready.

How could they think something like that? I've hated Luke, Liam, and Leo Berger since I was a kid, ever since they were "born". Why the hell did they think I liked him? I'd been yelling at Becca because she was socializing with one of them, and he even seemed to be the only one who was sensible of them all, and yet my friends think I'm in love with the one who was the most evil? You think you know someone…

 **Bubbles**  
When the school bell rang at four o'clock, I felt as if a lightning bolt had struck down into my body. My legs felt like spaghetti when I stood up and began gather my things. In only a few minutes, I was going to meet him and tell him how I felt. I bet he was already waiting for me!

I started walking towards the bridge behind the gymnasium when I almost walked straight into Brooke. She seemed really angry about something.

"Brooke?"

"Oh… Hi, Becca…" her face softened when she saw it was me. "Hey, about…"

"It's okay, Brooke. I'm going to see Leo right now. It's cool between us."

"Did…did Betty talk to you about…"

"Yes, we talked. She understands me now. I think you should try to understand, too."

"Yeah, I think so. Good luck." She nodded her head and gave me a half-hearted attempt of a smile.

"How did your practice go?" I asked before she flew home.

"We won…whoopee…"

I would have taken it as a joke and laughed if she hadn't looked so forlorn. "So why are you so angry?"

She snorted. "It's that bastard, Liam. He's getting on my nerves and to make it worse, the squad thinks I'm in love with him. I mean…you understand, right?"

"I…don't know… I mean, since Leo…"

Brooke gave me a sarcastic grin before lifting off the ground and flew home without any more conversation. I shrugged and continued on my way to the bridge.

There he stood, leaning over the railing, looking down onto the water beneath him with his long, blonde hair almost hiding his face. He looked up when he heard my steps crunching on the gravel path and saw me. He smiled, in the way only Leo could smile – the smile that could make any girl melt inside. Today he was wearing a long, ironed light blue shirt with thin, white vertical stripes, a pair of shorts with camouflage pattern, and his usual black and red DC skate shoes. He didn't have his usual beanie today, but had a white new era cap instead.

I wished I had chosen nicer clothes for today. My baggy jeans and brown sweater didn't look nearly as nice as they did this morning and I cursed myself for not fixing my hair before leaving class today.

"Hi." I said carefully as I stopped in front of him.

"Hi." Leo replied, still smiling.

"Hey, I'm sorry about my sister and her friends earlier. That's not how I wanted the night to end."

"You don't have to apologize, I don't care. Nothing has changed. Everything's like it was before they arrived. How I feel about you hasn't changed one bit."

"That I'm not a swine, you mean?" I laughed.

"You certainly are not."

We looked into each other's eyes for a long while. It made my whole body tingle out of joy and nervousness. Mostly joy. We were both leaning over the bridges railings now, looking down as the water was slowly running beneath us. I felt his arm touch my shoulder, felt his hypnotizing aroma.

Leo turned to face me. He was so close to me. I could feel his warm, sweet breath overpowering me. His scent was now more concentrated than ever. It made my knees tremble. His dark blue eyes were piercing my soul; warm, deep, amazing.

He smiled widely again, apparently happy about how stupefied he made me. He kissed me. His lips were slowly massaging mine, leading the kiss as this was my first. We both stood up. I had to tiptoe to reach, but he still had to bend down, as he was several inches taller than me. I put my hands against his warm, hard chest; his hands carefully resting on my back.

Suddenly we heard shouting and crying from the school. There were a series of loud bangs, finishing with a roar so loud it could be heard from every corner of Townsville.

 **Blossom**  
Just as I had lifted off of ground to fly home I heard a loud roar behind me. I stopped dead in the air and turned around. A fifty feet tall, dark orange monster with yellow eyes and thorns all over its body stumbled around in the school parking lot, destroying everything in its path. It broke the trees around the lot as if they were tooth picks. I flew towards it, and punched it as hard as I could over its eye, but the monster stood, adamant. His tail swooshed up right behind me but I fended it off. I continued hitting the awful thing with all my might, all over its hard, thorny face.

Becca arrived to help a few seconds after the roar. With our combined powers, we made a giant, highly pressurized air ball that we hurled towards the monster. But it didn't move an inch.

Brooke arrived two seconds later. We gathered together to contemplate what to do. Simultaneously, as we had planned, we punched and kicked the monster while he played with parked cars, throwing them through the windows of the canteen.

"Becca, you save as many people as you can. Take them to a safer place!" I shouted over the fighting.

"Sure!" she flew towards the school.

"Brooke! Help me make an energy ball out of fire and lighting!"

"But, Betty, we can't make those! We haven't done them since we were little…"

"Now, Brooke! We need to try, or else we won't have a school anymore!"

Brooke seemed to like the thought of not having a school anymore, but still helped me with the maneuver. We flew down to the ground and stood close to each other, focusing our strongest powers Professor tried to teach us as little girls. I felt the power inside me, tangible, as if I could touch it. We took a deep breath and charged two big orbs between our hands. I turned to Brooke who looked unsure. Her green fire orb was now as big as my pink lightning orb. All we had to do now was to carefully interlink them together.

Success, it worked! Between us we were holding a huge ball of energy with green fire and pink lightning surrounding it, twice as large as it would have been if I had tried to make it myself.

"Now!" I shouted as we hurled the ball towards the monster.

It roared with pain and flew back into the forest, away from the school. I used my ice power to shut its mouth, while freezing its arms and legs as well to keep it from moving. Together, Brooke and I carried the monster, flying several miles over the sea, and banished it to the Monster Island – where all the monsters are put after fighting with us.

"Good job." I huffed and patted Brooke on her arm. "I need to take a shower."

"I still think we should have killed it." Said Brooke, while wiping some sweat from her forehead.

I pursed my lips. Professor had more or less banned us from killing living creatures. "If we killed them we wouldn't have any more monsters to fight." I said, trying to appeal to her violent tendencies – fighting monsters and villains was one of Brooke's favorite past times.

"That's true." She immediately lit up. "Now he has a chance to come back and demand a rematch!"

Brooke went to help Becca check if all the citizens were alright when I suddenly heard a chilling shriek from the school. I saw flames coming from the top window of the building in the principal's office. A girl was trapped inside. I quickly flew down to save her. Just when I had broken the window and began searching for her, the door slammed open and a cloud of extinguisher foam covered the room and my sight. When the cloud began to clear I spotted a pair of legs being dragged out of the office and into the hallway. I flew after it to see what was happening.

"Oh, Dainton, you are so brave!" I smothered my boyfriend with kisses as he sat trying to catch his breath by the wall with the girl's head in his lap. "I'll take you two to the hospital…" I turned around after lifting the girl up. "You're a hero, you know that? You saw she was in danger when my sisters and I didn't notice."

He couldn't do anything other than smile, but he took my vacant hand and we flew to the hospital.

 **Professor**  
At six-thirty PM, the girls arrived home after a hectic day of monster fighting and saving people. They were exhausted. Buttercup had scrapes and bruises, Blossom was all black and grimy, and Bubbles was complaining about her aching back. I cooked their favorite meals while they were showering. Lasagna for Buttercup, salmon with asparagus for Blossom, and vegan bean stew for Bubbles.

"Dad, I need to tell you something." Bubbles said with a smile as we sat down to eat. "Betty and Brooke already know and it wouldn't be fair if you didn't."

Blossom and Buttercup began smiling too, Buttercup a little reluctantly.

"Have you finally found Prince Charming?" I asked as I smiled as well. But I felt a twinge in my stomach at the same time. She grew up too fast.

Actually, Blossom had had her first boyfriend a year earlier, and now another one since last year, who she was still with today, but I've always seen her as the most mature out of the three.

"Well, yes." Bubbles said. "But I want you to get to know him; maybe we could invite him for dinner tomorrow? Or Saturday or whatever is best…"

"Tomorrow is the perfect day for a barbeque! Is he vegan as well?"

Bubbles opened her mouth as to say something but closed it shut again with an expression of surprise and hurt. "I… don't know." She said, shocked. "How can I not know? He's been my best friend for a year now, how could I possibly not know…"

"I've seen him take from the vegetarian tubs in school, so I guess he is at least vegetarian." Buttercup said easily.

"Well then." I said, preparing for the worst. "What's his name? How old is he?"

"His name is Leo." Bubbles said. "He's the same age as Betty, Brooke and me, or a few months older than us."

"A few _undeserved_ months older than us." Buttercup muttered.

"But…" Oh, my God. There's a but! "… There _is_ one thing you need to know about him." Bubbles said as if she hadn't heard Buttercup.

Okay, alright, here it comes. Here comes the but! The one thing I will hate about this boy! And of course Bubbles would marry him and I would hate him forever! Oh, God, what to do?

"Yes, what?" I casually wondered, though sweat was literally running down my back.

Blossom looked down at the table and Buttercup looked at her plate, pretending they weren't part of the conversation anymore. Buttercup cleared her throat.

What was wrong with him? Did he have piercings all over his face? Tattoos? Was he older than what she had stated? She was only seventeen years old!

"Well…" Bubbles said nervously. "You remember Mojo Jojo? He…"

"Say no more, Bubbles." I said, almost choking on her words. "You mean that he's one of the boys that…"

Suddenly it hit me. Ten years ago, we caught three little boys with super powers, since it was impossible to control them. They were always banging up the town and its citizens. One by one, I gave them Antidote X, a chemical that removed all their powers. Once they were all normal, they had their names changed (for security reasons the girls and I never got to know what their new names were or where they moved) and were moved to Fort Davis, Texas, where a doctor lived with his wife. They took the boys in as if they were their own.

 _Undeserved months older_. That must have meant that they had decided the dates of their own birthdays and decided to have it several months earlier than when they were created, months before _I_ created my girls.

Even though I never knew of their names before, I remembered the girls telling me last year that they were back in Washington and was attending the same school as them. "Luke, Liam and Leo Berger. But how… I thought that you…"

"Hated them?" Blossom cut off. "Sure, but I've met Leo. He's nothing like his brothers."

"He is certainly _nothing_ like that damn Liam!" Buttercup said moodily from her chair. "It seems like it's only Leo who's changed. He's okay, Professor."

"And Leo is…"

"The one with blue eyes, Boomer." Said Blossom.

"I understand." I said, even though I didn't. I consoled myself with the memory of Boomer as a child. He always was the nicest of the three, so maybe he really had changed. "Well, let's invite him for dinner tomorrow, Bub…Becca. I would like to get to know him." I faked a smile to comfort her. Although, I think Bubbles noticed. She looked a little puzzled but kept eating.

The rest of the dinner we ate in silence.

 **Blossom**  
 _Friday_  
Every Friday morning, at half past seven, I took Brooke out for a jog. But today, for some reason, I somehow woke up at half past six and couldn't go back to sleep.

When I tried to wake Brooke up fifteen minutes later, she growled at me from her bed: "Oh, my god, its five forty-six AM! Are you crazy, Bets?"

"Come on, let's start this day early!" I whispered through her door.

"No, go away. Come back in forty-five minutes, you lunatic."

I quietly shut the door and went down the stairs. No need to wait for her. I really wanted to go for a run right now and Becca never wanted to run with us. If Brooke wanted company later I could just fly by her side.

I already had my dark grey yoga pants and my hot pink tank top on so I opened the door and flew all the way to Townsville's jogging track. It was about three miles long, stretching through the forest. I picked up my MP3-player from my jogging bag, started the music and began running.

It was almost impossible for us to gain muscle by working out, but we had been gifted with the misfortune of gaining weight if we didn't take care of ourselves. Neither Professor nor I had a clue about why we gained weight and not muscles. He thought it had something to do with Chemical X; that the chemical is only in our muscle mass and not in the fat…or something.

Anyhow…I was jogging along the track and almost ten minutes in I began hearing someone else's footsteps in the forest in front of me. There's nothing strange with other people on these jogging tracks, I just wanted to be on watch. Just as I was preparing myself to raise my hand in greeting to the other jogger, my stomach froze by the sight of who the person was. It was Luke Berger. One of the Rowdyruffs.

Both Luke and I stopped dead on the tracks and watched each other warily. He looked as surprised as I felt, with his crimson eyes fixated on me, his hand halfway raised up as if he was just about to take one of his earphones out. What was he doing here? I had never run into him before so why did I do it now? Was it because I couldn't sleep? Was this _his_ time to run? He had on black shoes and black jogging pants with a big red sweater. His usual red new era cap was resting on top of his long, auburn hair that was tucked into a low ponytail behind his neck.

He finally took one headphone out and said with a wide jeering smile that made deep dimples in his cheeks (something his brothers didn't have): "Hey, Blossom."

If I had been a normal girl I wouldn't have been able to hear him through my music. But because of my stupid super hearing, I heard him. I didn't reply. Instead, I flew past him and continued running. I felt his eyes follow me as I ran but I didn't care. Not one whit.

 **Bubbles**  
I had already told Leo via text that he was invited for dinner at our house today and he'd replied with "So soon?". Of course I knew what he meant by it but I really couldn't stand having a secret relationship with him. It would have felt like I was lying to my dad. He said he wanted to think about it. So the next day, in science class, I asked him again.

"It's totally fine if you don't want to come. I just want to show Professor that you've actually changed, that you're nothing like you were ten years ago."

"I don't know… I was kinda mean to y'all when we were little. Do you think he, if anyone, will ever forgive me?"

"Believe me, he'll forgive you. Can I. So can he, too, right?"

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Mr. Hampton, the science teacher, asked sternly.

I looked at Leo with my saddest puppy eyes. He caved and nodded with a sigh and a smile. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek before continuing with our class, flushing with happiness and anticipation.

 **Blossom**  
Yesterday, Dainton could leave the hospital after only an hour after he got there, so his mom picked him up. He had escaped smoke damage to his lungs. I had already talked to Mayor. He was going to reward Dainton with a medal for being a hero.

At lunch break today, I was going to meet up with Dainton like usual beneath our special tree. So I went home to go fetch my lunch box from the fridge. Once I had gotten my lunch, I flew back to school. I landed just outside the school and began walking to it. When I approached our tree, I saw that he wasn't alone. He was sitting next to a girl I had never even seen him talk to before.

"Hi." I said uncertainly. They hadn't noticed me, as they were talking and laughing so loudly. "Dainton?"

"Oh, Betty! Hi, sweetie." He got up on his elbows and began to stand up, holding his sandwich in one hand and his water bottle in the other. "Uhm, this is Olivia. You know, the girl I…"

"Ze girl you saved from a 'orrible deaz. Yes, your boyfriend, Beatrice, is my 'ero now!"

Olivia hooked her arms around Dainton's arm and pressed herself against him. Even though I knew there wasn't anything between them, I couldn't resist the thought of me punching her French face straight to oblivion. I think I had that feeling because I now recognized her as a cheerleader and already one of the most popular girls in school. She had long, dark red hair with natural curls at the ends, a very perfect and proportional face, with perfectly skintight clothes so that you could see her perfect, slim body without seeing too much skin. But she was three years younger than Dainton, only fifteen years old…so what would he see in her?

"Oh, yeah. Right, Olivia!" I said. I shook my head, trying to return to reality. I took her hand and shook it. "Yes, it's really nice seeing you out of the hospital…together, with my boyfriend…here! Uhm, you can finish catching up. I was actually going to sit with my friends, uh…" I turned to look for anybody I knew and I saw nobody. Mostly I was just trying not to look at Dainton and his _damsel in distress_.

"Oh, no, don't let me intrude!" said Olivia with big eyes. Apparently she noticed she was bothering me. "I just wanted to zank Dainton once more before going back to my friends. Imagine, I was just sitting zere waiting for the principal and, bam, ze fire broke loose! Zank you, again, Dainton! 'ave a nice weekend!" she skipped away and threw some flirtatious glances back at Dainton before disappearing into the canteen.

"Sooo…" I said and sat down with my back leaning against the tree trunk. "You two seemed to have become good friends."

"I guess she just wanted to _zank_ me one more time. Wait, you're not jealous, are you? I did save her yesterday." He sat down next to me and placed his hand on my knee.

"No, I… I'm sorry. I think it was you talking to a, for me, strange girl under our tree and her touching you that caught me off guard. I didn't know it was just her thanking you, nothing else. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He kissed my forehead and continued eating his sandwich casually. But I still couldn't avoid a strong sensation of hatred and jealousy pierce through the inside of my stomach like a sword straight through butter.

 **Buttercup**  
"So… Eight o'clock, my house tonight." Said Robin, sitting next to me in math class.

The people around us romped and laughed so loudly nobody could hear our conversation. A few rows ahead of us sat Betty with her new laptop, looking through her notes. Becca was sitting next to her, staring out of the windows dreamily. I guess she was thinking about Leo. He didn't have math class with us because he was in Math group C, and we were in group A. But I would much rather have him in our group instead of Luke and Liam. Luckily, Luke and Liam almost never attended math, so I guess that it was great either way.

I had almost forgotten that Robin was going to have a party this weekend. "I can't." I mumbled and began digging around my bag, hoping Robin would just quit the subject but I knew she wouldn't leave me alone. I hadn't missed a single party she's hosted since never.

"What do you mean ' _can't_ '? Of course you can! What is more important, studying?" she had a smug, laughing expression at that, like she had come up with the best joke in the world.

"Of course not, I just have other stuff to do. I can tell you about it on Monday."

"But…"

"Monday, okay?" I stared her down and she immediately quit pushing the issue.

Truth being told, I still had that curfew Professor gave me last Tuesday because of my drunkening. Every day after school and every weekend for five weeks with the exception of school, practices, games, and fighting crime. Life sucked.

When I flew home with my sisters, at three o'clock that afternoon, I had the feeling that something was missing. It was going to be a party, surely a really fun home party, and I was going to miss it for the first time since my freshman year of high school. I could imagine it, happy people jumping around on the dancefloor with beer or cider in their hands. I could hear the music pounding loudly. I even almost started to miss the sound of someone crying: "cops!" and the exhilarating run into a nearby alleyway and the idiotic reminder later that I had super powers and could run even faster and fly… Such nostalgia trips – curfews weren't good for me!

But the party wasn't all that was eating me. When I looked at Betty and Becca in front of me, they were just drifting along in the air with no worries what so ever. I got this vague feeling of envy. They were among the best students in our class (except for Betty who actually was the top student of all classes). They had their own cute boyfriends and Professor seemed to be really proud of them. And here I was. Bottom grades except for Geography (I could fly, remember?), detention after detention (it was practically my second home), curfews, alcohol - and nicotine addiction. Still single but had slept with almost every guy in school (of course, only when I was drunk). Never been in love with anyone. I was only seventeen and already a screw up!

I knew I was still young and I had my whole life in front of me to do good for the world, become successful…find a lovable guy; but it had never struck me as hard as it did now. I actually wanted my own guy, a male I could call _boyfriend_ or _sweetie_ if wanted to resort to that…but no boy in this school was very appealing to me. Everybody _I_ knew had several different girls every week, or there were only nerds like Betty's boyfriend. And I didn't want to be stuck with a nerd.

Liam Berger was the only one who actually attracted me while sober – at least his appearance. Yak! Really sad that he's the only one! It's like the saying: you can't judge the book by the cover. Although he has a face of an angel and the body of a Greek God, he's a douchebag of epic proportions on the inside.

I wanted a guy that looked and behaved more like me, but there was none. And what guy that _didn't_ look like me, would be attracted to someone that _looks like me_? The only people with the same sense of style as me were actual gay girls and I'm not gay. I'm more like… well, a tomboy, maybe? But I hated being called tomboy. It's not my fault that I like dark colors and comfortable clothes…now that I thought of it, maybe I _should_ change my wardrobe…

From now on, I'd change my whole life. I'll quit drinking (okay, maybe a beer once in a while), quit smoking (I can try…), and get myself a real man! Maybe buy some more feminine clothes… Or I'll just stay single. You don't need a man to feel complete. First things first, I needed to sort myself out and after that I could begin the hunt for love. So I needed to quit hitting on guys when I'm drunk, which was the only time I could actually talk to them. Ironic, eh?

 **Bubbles**  
After school, my sisters and I flew home. I helped Professor set the table and clean. It _was_ for me that we did all of this, after all, and for Leo. He'd finish school at four o'clock so we had a whole hour to clean and cook.

Brooke seemed a bit depressed during the flight home, but I guess it was because of the new curfew, so she didn't want to help us clean. Meanwhile, Betty cleaned up the lounge and living room. I set the table in the yard and Professor fired up the barbeque.

"Whaa!" we heard Professor scream just as I had gone into the kitchen to fetch some glasses. Betty and I went to him within the second.

"Oh, Professor!" Betty and I laughed. He had accidentally fired up the grill too early and his face was full of soot and grime, and his hair stood straight up on his head.

Two minutes to four, I checked myself out in the bathroom mirror one last time before flying back to school to meet up with Leo. We were going to take his car back to my house from school. Professor stood in the doorway, smiling at me.

"What?" I asked and began smiling, as well.

"You're just so grown up. You've grown so fast I can't keep up with the pace anymore." He looked down at his watch. "You better go get Prince Charming soon."

"Stop calling him that!" I laughed and walked past him towards the door.

"Becca, one more thing before you go…" I turned around and found myself standing face to face with Professor. "Don't let him hurt you." He kissed me on top of my head and walked into the kitchen.

"Are you ready, or do you have to leave your stuff at home first?"

I had been waiting on the steps outside the school for only a minute. Leo was carrying a big bag, surely filled with homework and other heavy books.

"No, thanks, I'm fine. I can leave them in the car."

We stood quiet for a bit and looked at each other. I was worrying about dinner and how Professor would treat Leo and Leo was smiling exhaustedly, burdened by the weight of his books.

"Do you miss it?" I asked suddenly.

"Miss what?" he asked.

"The ability to fly, to lift heavy things? Your powers."

He was silent. He pulled his bag from his shoulders and dropped it by his feet with a relieved sigh and rubbed his back with the back of his hand. "Well…sometimes I do. But subsequently, I understand that they weren't good for me. If I had them today I don't think I would've been with you the same way, right?"

I just smiled at him. I stood on the tips of my toes and kissed him on his lips. He was a little bit over a head taller than me. I took his bag and threw it over my shoulder with no protests from his side. He looked grateful. After that, we went side by side to the parking lot where his white Skoda was parked.

/"So, Leo… How's school going?"

Professor was very polite towards Leo when we sat down to eat, all five of us. Professor had made special kabobs for Leo and me. Mushrooms, peppers, onions… yum!

"Oh, uh, yeah it's okay." Leo said, a little unprepared for the question. "I don't think I have anything less than B+, actually."

"That's nice to hear!" Professor exclaimed, shining with pleasure. "Which classes do you have? Except for the basics, of course?"

"Science B and C with Becca, my only bonus classes are about marine animals, Math C, English C… Chemistry with Betty and Marine Biology with Becca, as well… yeah, I think that's it." Leo looked a little bit embarrassed. He probably thought he had talked too much already. But, to be fair, it was Professor who had asked in the first place.

Professor's formally happy expression took a turn for the worse. He looked like he was on the verge of crying. He himself took advanced classes in High School to become a scientist.

"Leo is thinking about becoming a Marine biologist when he finishes school." Said Betty, attempting to convince Professor that Leo was a good guy, that Leo and I were made for each other.

"That's something you really need good grades for, but I have no doubts it won't be hard for you considering your good grades."

Even though Leo had been a bad boy many years ago, Professor was the kind of person who wanted to give everyone a second chance. He was too nice to hate people. Professor, Betty, and Brooke kept shooting Leo questions about himself. Leo answered each and every one of them truthfully and the atmosphere never took a turn for the worse. Even Brooke was behaving exceptionally well. Everyone was nice to each other. We laughed and had a good time until…

"Is that… Leo! Hey!"

We all turned our heads towards the street. Through a hole in the hedge, a big pair of scarlet eyes stared right at us. The eyes disappeared and were replaced by a pair of emerald ones.

"Oi, Leo!" the green eyes shouted through the hedge.

 **Buttercup**  
I immediately felt my stomach cramping. It was the kin of poor Leo – Luke and Liam – who didn't have the intellect to show any respect for other's private dinners.

"Excuse me…" Leo mumbled, mortified, and began walking towards the hole in the hedge where one blood-red and one jade eye now shared room.

"Get lost!" Betty shouted from her chair.

"Let me…" said Leo nervously, his neck began getting all red. "Guys, what are you doing? Can't you see I'm having dinner here?"

What if his brothers judged him as much as Betty and I judged Becca a few days ago? I suspected so. I was right.

"Why are you with _them_?" Liam almost shouted from the other side of the hedge with his deep, raspy voice.

"That's enough!" Professor stood up, walked towards the gate and opened it. Betty, Becca, Leo and I followed him out on the street.

There stood Liam Berger, tall and muscular with his upper lip crooked over in a mocking smile and Luke Berger, shorter than his brothers – at least *two decimeters shorter than Liam, who's the tallest, –, though, muscular as well. Probably because he was the running back in the football's team. Pockmarked, pimpled and freckled face, red eyes and long ginger hair, even longer than Leo's.

"Well isn't it _Laurel and Hardy_?" I asked them jeeringly.

Luke glared at me with something wild in his red eyes but kept smiling, grinding the inside of his cheek. Liam looked kind of bored.

"I didn't believe my girls either when they told me they were on visiting terms with your brother. I think it's about time you brought peace between yourselves and the girls. You're almost adults now." Said Professor as if he didn't hear what I had said.

"If you weren't the man that created our creator, I would've beat the crap out of you, old man." said Luke smoothly. He lifted his cap and pulled his hair back before putting it on again. Liam gleefully laughed next to him.

"How _dare_ you!?" I screeched lividly. I placed myself between them and Professor. "You don't seem to understand the seriousness of picking a fight with us, do you? Or maybe you imagine that you can beat us? Why don't you have a try? Come on, hit me as hard as you can, maybe you'll hurl me all the way to town. Oh, no, I forgot. _You don't have your powers anymore_!"

"Brooke!" Professor warned me through clenched jaws. But Luke and Liam actually smirked at my words, those _fucking bastards_ , and looked at each other with amused glances.

"Damn, gal, calm your horses." Said Liam in the rudest southern accent I had ever heard, it really didn't suit him.

"Go…now." muttered Leo darkly. He had squeezed past me and stood in front of his brothers.

Both watched Leo with cold and analyzing gazes. After that, they looked at each other with wide smiles. They then began to walk slowly down the street back to the town.

"I should go, too." Said Leo ashamed. "Thanks for dinner; it was really nice meeting y'all."

He shook Professor's hand and gave Betty and me a polite nod. He gave Becca an apologetic, pained smile then took a deep breath and began to walk the same way his brothers had gone.

"I'll follow him home. Leo, wait!" Becca caught up with him. "I'll pick up your car later."

Betty, Professor and I just stood quietly for a moment and just stared at the buildings, with their long spiraling towers reaching up towards the sky, from town.

Why did they look at me with that rebellious, mischievous look when I mentioned their lack of powers? As if they could do anything to us! Then I felt it. It felt like a monster started clawing me from the inside, tried to tear me open to jump out and just destroy everything in its path!

"On Monday those two will get what they deserve! At least Liam will have a taste of his own medicine tomorrow at the game!"

"You will do nothing to them, Brooke." Professor said strictly. "Let's just give them time to get used to this. Now, go up to your room. You have a curfew."

"Professor, I…"

"Now, Brooke. Or else I'll prolong it further one week."

I looked angrily at him before flying up to my window and opened it. I usually didn't shut it close in case I needed to sneak out and come back home late without waking Professor.

When I sat down on my bed I heard Professor say to Betty, "All I wanted was to have a nice, normal dinner with my family. We didn't even get to the dessert…"

*two meters = six point seven foot  
*four decimeters = one foot, three inches  
*two decimeters = eight inches


	5. Chapter 4 - Intuition (edited)

Hello, my cute little readers!  
As you may have noticed I switched from the imperial system to metric. We use the metric system in Sweden but as I was translating I felt that maybe I should use the imperial system! That was a bad choice and I'm sorry for just switching… But from now on I will use the metric one (but I will of course convert to imperial measurements so that our American friends know what I'm talking about, as well)!

So, to clear up some of the things for my metric buddies, I wrote that Liam was 6 feet and 7 inches tall and that roughly converts into 204 centimeters (2.04 meters). That's correct.  
Please, comment something or ask if you have questions!

Thank you for reading! And a special thanks to **Asuki-sama** who edited this chapter!

 **Intuition**

 **Blossom**  
 _Saturday_  
A strange man was creeping around the town, sneaking through the alleyways. You couldn't see who he was, but the silhouette he cast contorted his facial features horribly, almost grotesquely.

My sisters and I were following him, moving furtively in the shadows. We were going to attack him, surprising him, before he had the time to think. He was dangerous; Mayor had told us that he had a gun. Then, Becca suddenly slipped on a wet, reddish brown puddle on the ground, accidently tipping a trashcan over. The can rolled loudly past the man. He stood paralyzed, frozen. He knew he was busted. Becca, Brooke and I were frozen as well. We just cautiously watched his neck, waiting for something to happen. With catlike reflexes, the man turned around and began shooting wildly.

"Bubbles!" I cried. She had been hit in the shoulder.

That made Brooke furious. She flew towards the man, seeking revenge, but he shot her point-blank, the bullet hitting her right between her eyes.

"Buttercup!"

It was only me and the man left. His dark eyes caught my attention. For a moment, we just warily stared at each other, tension tight on both of our faces. He took his hat off, the hat was the only thing that was cloaking his face, and when he did, I saw who he was…

"NO! No, it can't be you! Why?!"

My eyes popped open. The world was a blurry mess, my heart pumping with fear and nausea. Slowly but surely my sight got sharper, and the alley was replaced by my bedroom. I laid back down on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was just a dream. But it was the most horrendous dream I'd ever dreamt. Why did I have that dream? And why was _he_ the killer?

I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was only five minutes before I usually got up anyways. So I stood up and began dressing. When I pulled my nightgown off, it was soaked with sweat.

"Why would Dainton want to kill me and Brooke in an alley?" Becca asked. She was the only one up, other than me. I found her sitting in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in front of her.

It was only eight o'clock but Dainton and I were going out to the town later to celebrate our first anniversary.

"I don't know," I replied. "I've never had a dream like that before. Do you think something horrible is going to happen? With Dainton, I mean? Remember that Psychology class we took last year? We talked about dreams and Amber dreamt that her dad killed a dog. A week later, we found out that he was in the hospital because a dog had bitten him really badly. What if something happens to Dainton? In my dream he killed you and Brooke, but what if it's the other way around…"

"That Brooke and I kill Dainton, you mean?"

"No, that's not what I mean… I mean, maybe one day he'll be standing in the way when we saved the city and one of you accidentally throws something at him… I don't know."

"Or maybe your dream doesn't mean anything at all. I think you're just worrying about nothing. Everything is and will be fine, Betty."

I didn't seriously think that Becca or Brooke would kill Dainton - at least, not on purpose - but even though it was just a dream I couldn't stop thinking about it. I contemplated several different theories about what the dream could have meant all throughout the morning as I ate my breakfast and got ready for the day. I was abruptly interrupted when I heard a knock on the door. I went to open it – oh!

 **Bubbles**  
It was Saturday and I had no plans whatsoever. I thought about calling Leo and maybe spend the day with him, but I didn't really have the courage for it. Our first official date had been…less than a success considering what happened with his brothers and all... They'd probably been scolding him last night. Leo probably didn't dare to call me anymore. Why couldn't we just be left alone? We'd been together for not even two whole days and everything seemed to oppose us being together.

I went down to the bench by the river. I needed to just sit down and look over at the town on the other side of the bridge for a while.

Leo was sitting on the bench when I came. He was apparently waiting for me. "There you are! I was just about to call you." He said, jumping up off the bench. He kissed me affectionately, almost as if he was asking for forgiveness with his lips. "I'm so sorry about yesterday. It seems like our siblings need some time to get used to this, to us."

"Do you think Luke and Liam ever will? I mean, my sisters are very understanding. And all I remember of you guys as kids is that you were all merciless little brats who didn't possess any feelings or compassion for… I'm sorry. I know you're not like that anymore and have never really been…but it feels like they're still the same as they've always been."

"Yeah… I don't think they'll ever change." He sighed.

I looked into Leo's blue eyes. He was my counterpart. While Luke was Betty's contrast and Liam was Brooke's, Leo was my total similarity. How was that possible? How could the other two have become so evil while the third one was just like my sisters and me? Leo knew right from wrong. He was good.

We sat down on the bench next to each other, deep in thought, saddened by the possibility that we might never be totally accepted. Leo put an arm around my shoulders and I rested my head on his chest. I didn't want him ever to let go. I wanted to sit like that forever. It didn't feel like school started only four days ago. And, although Leo and I had dated for only two days, it felt like we'd been together for years but I still couldn't get enough of him. He was my absolute biggest love. I had never felt like this about anyone before.

I began thinking about that day we fought them for real and the only way to defeat them was to kiss them, the one thing little boys were afraid of. I kissed Leo, or, Boomer, as his name was back then, and he disappeared. In one way or another, Him revived them and made them even tougher and stronger than before. They were nothing like the little boys we had fought a year prior.

After Him was arrested for good because of child neglect and, well, because he was trying to take over the world all the time, Brick (Luke), Boomer (Leo) and Butch (Liam) had their names changed and powers removed. They were moved to a couple in Fort Davis, Texas, who took care of them and raised them to become normal boys. But after all that, it seemed that Leo was the only one who had gotten better. Meanwhile, Luke and Liam still had their old bad habits and still wanted to live with Mojo or Him.

"You wanna do anything later?" I wondered, feeling so proud of Leo because of his choice to change sides, to grow up.

"I was thinking we should have a picnic tonight, in the park," Leo replied.

I hugged him and told him it was the best idea I had heard in a long time.

 **Buttercup**  
This sucked – to stay in while Betty and Becca were spending time with their boyfriends and had a fun time. I wasn't allowed to use the computer or watch TV. I wasn't allowed to do anything at all. Except studying… The only thing I was really looking forward to was the game tonight, but I bet that won't be fun either because Liam would be there…or…mysteriously murdered…

Professor entered the living room from the kitchen, as I sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the floor, my arms crossed stubbornly. "What are your plans for today, Brooke?"

"Very funny…" I muttered.

"Oh, yeah, your curfew. Sorry…" he seemed sincere about forgetting about that _enseey, weensy_ obstacle. "But you do know I did it for you? You do deserve a punishment for what you did."

"Yeah, I know, Professor… I'm terribly sorry…"

"Hm… You can come with me to the town later. I'm going to pick up the coffee table I bought last Wednesday and I'm in need of some muscle work."

"Okay…" I said and walked up to my room to get my cell phone. It wasn't there. "Where's my…?" I shouted down to the living room.

Professor raised my phone in the air, waving it a little to show that he had taken hold of it. The action only made me angrier but I knew I couldn't do anything about it. Well, of course, I could. But I wasn't a monster and Professor was my father.

 **Blossom**  
Dainton and I had just finished watching a movie, at the theater, named " _When You're Not Looking_ ". It was about a girl who had just started her first year at college and fell in love with her classmate who already had a girlfriend that was attending another school. The guy fell in love with the main character, too, and broke up with his girlfriend for her…or something like that. I couldn't stop thinking about my stupid dream.

Dainton, who had noticed that something was up, asked: "Why are you so quiet? You seem sad about something. I hope you're not expecting me to do what the guy in the movie did?"

We were walking along a side street in town. The sky had been cloudy earlier today but now the sun shined and threw its warmth over us.

"What? No, absolutely not." I said. "I just had a…strange dream last night and I can't get it out of my head. It was a romantic movie, nothing to be sad about."

"Alright." We sat down at an outdoor café. "What kind of dream was it?" he looked a little worried.

"I dreamt that Becca and Brooke got killed…"

"By whom?"

"By… a man. With a gun. He was too fast for us."

Dainton laughed. "There, there. It was only a dream. You can't die by being shot by a gun, remember? Think about something else, how 'bout you and I have a nice day together. What do you wanna eat? It's on me."

I nodded and smiled at him and we began looking through the menu. Suddenly…

"Dainton! It's so nice seeing you 'ere!"

I felt a chill running down my spine. Olivia, with her long dark red hair, was walking straight towards us with some shopping bags in her hands. I really was in no mood for her right now, but I couldn't do anything since Dainton had saved her life, after all. As I kept reminding myself.

"Oh, Olivia! Hi, how are you?" Dainton stood up and Olivia hugged him right away, giving him a kiss on his cheek.

"I'm feeling good. Ze sun is wonderful today! 'ow are you? What are you doing 'ere?"

"Thanks, I'm fine, too. I'm having lunch with-"

While Dainton tried to answer her question, she saw me, looked at her watch and cut him off. "Oh, I'm sorry, Dainton. I need to go. My friends are waiting for me by ze river. I would 'ave loved staying 'ere to talk to you, but I'm in a 'urry. See you in school Monday. Bye!" she ran away, surprisingly sprite on her high heels. Dainton sat down again, looking surprised and confused.

I didn't want to tell him what had just happened. I didn't want him to know I was jealous. She had seen me and if I wouldn't have been here she probably would have stayed to talk with him more.

 **Buttercup**  
At seven o' clock that same evening, the game was just about to start. The guys, my squad, and I were rehearsing in the locker room.

"Brooke! You're not focusing!" said Tilly, irritated.

"Who's the captain?" I snubbed.

"Well, you…"

"Then who died and gave you command over me?" Tilly was silent. "Good."

"Sir, yes, sir," said Robin with big eyes. "But you did actually mess up at the end."

"I'm just nervous, okay?" Actually, I wasn't. I was just preparing myself for the moment where I bash Liam's head in and didn't know if I could restrain myself. "Sorry, Tilly. Let's do it again, shall we? We have time for one more!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Townsville High's first basketball game of the season!" It was principal Williams that was enthusiastically shouting into the microphone tonight. Huh, I'd always pictured her as the behind-the-desk type. "Tonight Townsville Mohawks…" I heard applause and whistling from behind the banner, "…will play against the Citiesville Troopers! Let me present to you: Townsville High Dancers!"

I was, like in rehearsal, the first one out on the floor. And then, we danced. I threw myself into the spectacle of jumping, diving, bending, and perpetuate splits. I loved it all. The screams, the sweat, the adrenaline.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Professor in the sea of people, sitting together with Betty and Becca. _Pompoms in the air_. Next to Becca sat Leo. _Flip and cartwheel, half degree turn_. A little further down the rows closer to the exit sat Luke – _jump and split_ – in between a couple whom I assumed was their adoptive parents.

That almost made me pause in the routine. They surely had been here several times already, but this was the first time I'd ever noticed them. I twirled, only a half a beat behind. Robin gave me a strange look but I ignored it, the crowd hadn't noticed my small misstep. I swung my hips with renewed vigor, determined not to slip up again.

I studied the boys' "parents" while I danced, unnerved by their sudden appearance. While the mother of the family was short, round, and blonde, the father was tall, skinny, and muscular, with brown hair and a mustache with dignified silver streaks.

Half of the audience was waving green, yellow, and purple flags to support us, while the other half waved Citiesville's colors: blue, white and yellow. When the actual game started, I sat down on the bench in the very front together with my squad. Our team was already leading with six points only ten minutes into the game. With Liam as the one who had made both three-point throws. Tch.

During a split second, directly after he had made the second throw, he gave me a taunting smirk. It was like he was challenging me to say that I was wrong, that he didn't suck, that he actually was the greatest player in the world. Please, the day I'd do that was the day that _he_ stopped being an asshole. So, never.

While I steamed silently, I saw one of the opponents catch the ball. I figured that he was going to pass it to his teammate on Liam's other side. I quickly lifted my shirt to distract him. Both he and Liam were baited, with Liam caught the ball with his face. Ha, idiot. Point – Brooke. Nobody had noticed what I had done.

I laughed manically to myself while the audience groaned. The game had to be stopped for a few minutes. A medic and Liam's foster dad ran to him to check if his bleeding nose was broken.

It was _so_ worth it. After all, I did deserve a _little_ bit of fun even though I had a stupid curfew. Oh, sweet vengeance!

 **Blossom**  
Classes were becoming more and more grueling each week. I had so much homework to do that I didn't have any time for Dainton. Or for anyone to be exact. Since I could only spend time with him during recess, I often saw him walking home with Olivia chasing him down and following him to his car. It made me so furious but I didn't know what to do. I couldn't tell him that I was – er, excuse me – _jealous_ because he had the right to be friends with anyone. Anyone. Chew your lip quietly, Blossom.

The thing that angered me the most was that she was pretending that I didn't even exist. Every time I wasn't by his side, she would openly talk with him about everything. One time, I even saw her trying to hold hands with him. To my relief, he behaved appropriately and quickly pulled his hand away.

"Oh, forgive me! Zat is just what we do in France to show our friendship!" Olivia laughed and Dainton believed her…

This morning, on Monday, Dainton went home right after his first class because he had gotten ill. So I spent the lunch break with Mindy, a girl I had become good friends with during sophomore year.

"There goes Olivia…alone." Muttered Mindy with a spiteful glance towards the lockers we were walking to. Of course, she knew everything about my problem with the new French addition to the cheerleading squad.

I looked up from the floor and saw Olivia walking from the lockers towards the canteen. She was tactlessly snooping around looking suspiciously like she was waiting for a certain someone. I knew _who_ she was waiting for. When she saw me she stubbornly turned her face away and was suddenly "busy" watching the time on her cellphone.

"You won't meet him today." I angrily whispered as she passed us.

"Uh-huh. Poor you," Mindy concurred and whipped her long, curly, brown hair over her shoulder.

Olivia heard us. She gave us an angry glare instead of watching her phone and kept walking away.

I stopped in front of my locker and opened it to put some of my books away. Mindy was standing a few lockers further away and did the same.

"Watch out now, your neighbor is on his way." She said quietly and sneaked behind her locker door.

With a hasty glance towards the end of the corridor, I saw the person she was referring to. Luke. Shit. Er, shoot.

He was walking through the hall with two of his companions, two big guys from the football's team. As a running back in the football's team, Luke wasn't particularly as big as his friends flanking him, but his muscles still stretched his dark red t-shirt he was wearing. Short and compact. Apparently, height wasn't an issue when it came to football.

"Hey, Blossy," Luke smirked when he saw me and opened his own locker next to mine.

I knew he was only trying to mess with my head, using my given name. So I couldn't resist replying with, "Brick."

I slammed my locker's door and dragged Mindy with me away from the lockers. I heard him and his friends' fading laughter behind me. But there was nothing to waste energy on. Luke didn't have the courage to do anything more to me. I had already won a long time ago.

 **Bubbles**  
About four weeks after school started, I was sitting on our regular bench outside the cafeteria with my friends and relished the September sun. Even though it was the end of the month, we discussed the Yule ball, which was going to take place five days before Christmas.

"You, at least, will have no problem getting a date. It's worse for us poor bachelorettes." Mathilda complained.

"I'm not married either," I giggled, blushing, "Don't worry you're all going to be asked to the ball," I promised them. "I mean, who wouldn't notice you all?" I said kindly. I was completely serious. They were good friends and good people, why wouldn't they be asked?

"Nobody _ever_ notices us if you haven't _noticed_." Ginger said quietly. She had the worst self-esteem of all of us. For the longest time, I thought it was I who had it. Getting together with Leo had made me feel alive and unbeatable.

We kept talking like this for a while until Leo added himself into the conversation. He had his usual baggy clothes with a skateboard under his arm. He was accompanied by two of his closest friends, Simon and Clyde. Both had their own beloved skateboards, as well.

"Hey, girls!" Leo said happily. "Y'all wanna come with to the ramp?"

"Sure," I said eagerly and looked at Mathilda, Jessica, and Henrietta who all nodded excitedly, though Ginger still seemed a bit down.

We followed the guys to the ramp (the school management had agreed to build a ramp only if the skateboarders themselves built it and then the management needed to approve of it) that was just a bit outside the school parking lot. We'd actually been there a lot of times before today, only this time it was much more interesting since Leo had become my boyfriend, making the other two guys a bit more interesting as well.

Ginger seemed to especially like Clyde. He was one of Leo's friends who had hair as long as Leo but it was brown instead of blonde. The other guy, Simon, whom Mathilda, Jessica, and Henrietta liked more, had crew-cut black hair, dark skin and light green eyes (I admit, he wasn't bad looking, his uncommon appearance certainly helped. It made him very popular.). All three of the guys had baggy clothes but the look looked good on them.

When the school bell rang, the sky started to shift to a stormy gray above our heads. We had to run the final few feetto the door because the rain had unexpectedly started to gush down from the black clouds (Leo ran with his skateboard above my head like a knight in shining armor!). I mean, I could've just picked everyone up and fly them to dryer grounds, but people tended not to appreciate being carried around.

Just as we were entering the building I saw Liam, Leo's green eyed brother, flick a cigarette butt on the ground. He grounded it into dust under his foot. Neither students nor other people were allowed to smoke inside school property, but I didn't care enough to play school police either.

 **Buttercup**  
On Thursday, five weeks after school started, we were going to have our second game against a school from Great Falls, Montana. My squad and I were going to be dancing of course. We got to dance in the beginning, on game breaks, and at the end of the game. But my usual happiness to cheer spoiled whenever I spotted _Liam_. Every time I looked at him, I felt hatred boil inside of me. He would just smirk his usual jeering smirk every time he saw me and was generally bitchy towards me. Ugh, he just pissed me off!

Of course, we won.

After the game, once everybody had left, I stayed for a bit to tie up my shoes and pulled them off. They really fucking hurt, fucking cute, uncomfortable shoes. I saw Liam gather the balls that had been used during the game, put them in a sack, and went through the door that led to the boy's locker room and the ball storage.

The coach, Terrence, had also lingered a bit longer to gather all the sweaty towels and the left behind water bottles that were sprawled all over the benches. "Oh, Brooke, you're still here. Would you be a peach and take this ball to the storage? Liam seems to have missed it." He picked up the ball and threw it to me.

"Can't he just come back and retrieve it?" I asked when I'd caught it.

"He _just_ disappeared out the door. Now he's probably changing and then he'll go out the other door in the back. The boys are really bad at taking a shower after practices and the games…"

"But…"

"Please, just do it. I need to clean up for a bit before the janitors arrive. It's unbelievable how dirty it gets here after a game… This is embarrassing…"

I did as I was told. All I had to do was throw the ball into the storage and then walk away. Hopefully, I would avoid fighting with Liam (avoid killing him) if he was still in there. I was relieved as soon as I discovered he wasn't there (though, Liam should've been the one that was thankful to be perfectly honest). So I put the ball into the sack, quickly, I didn't want to bump into the bastard. Suddenly, I heard the door slam shut behind me. I didn't turn around. Well, speak of the devil. Liam stood there, watching me with a superior, smug look on his face. Ugh, just wait 'til I flatten that smile, _big boy_.

"Let me through," I said angrily and tried to walk past him. But he was being the asshole he always was and blocked my way. "What the hell are you doing, asshole? Get out of my way!"

"What are you doing here?" he asked with his deep voice, somehow managing to look bored (or maybe he's just that stupid).

"You forgot a ball out there, dipshit. Terrence told me to bring it here. If you're unable to do your job someone else has to…"

I got so surprised I didn't know what the hell to do. Liam had taken a step forward, trapping my body against the wall. I squirmed, trying to get out of his iron grip. He held my face between his big hands and kissed me roughly on my mouth.

For a second I just stood there, feeling his tongue shove its way possessively, _primitively_ down my throat. But after a heartbeat, I absorbed what was happening. I slapped him and moved away. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" I shouted as my heart was pounding, almost bursting, out of my chest.

Liam rubbed his cheek, already reddening from my slap. I didn't hit him the hardest I could – or else he would've been standing there without a head - but I did slap him harder than what a normal girl could do.

He smiled with heavy lids. "I left the ball out there on purpose." He said. "Do yah think I haven't noticed the way you look at me? I know you want me. I left the ball there so that we could be alone here."

"I…was looking at you… Because I _hate_ you!"

"I hate you, too…" I slapped him again. "You're a spoiled rotten little brat…" I slapped him a third time. "But you still have the most beautiful eyes…."

BAM! The up to now hardest slap seemed to echo in the narrow space of the ball storage and Liam grinned wider than ever.

"Are you some kind of masochist or something?" I asked, disgusted, instantly regretting falling for his perverted games.

"What if I am?"

"Ugh! Leave me alone!" I pushed him away, hard, but my hands slipped on his sweaty arms and somehow he managed to block the door again. "Hey!" I protested. How could he have been so strong?

Liam looked down at me through his long eyelashes and tilted his head. "So, that thing at the game a few weeks ago…you…"

"I didn't flash myself because I wanted _this_!"

He pouted and nodded his head. "Okay. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

"Jesus Christ," I muttered and reached for the door handle when he stepped aside.

"It's such a waste, you know…"

"What?" I asked him before I had opened the door.

"This chemistry between us, don't you feel it, too?" I didn't answer. "I can see your knees shaking, hear your rapid breathing… Does your heart beat as fast as mine?"

"Well, yeah, but…" I whispered, feeling my whole body freeze.

A chill ran down my spine as I felt a finger run up my back. "You're so sweaty." He whispered into my ear and I felt his scent overwhelming me.

As he started to nibble on my earlobe I couldn't resist him anymore. I threw myself at him. Even though I thought I was going to beat him up. Even though I thought I was going to tear him apart. I was astonished that…that wasn't the case.

Apparently, it wasn't him who had been strong enough to keep me in that room… it had been me who was too weak to leave him.

/"That was… damn…" Liam sighed as he laid on the floor, his arms tucked underneath his neck.

"Mm… But this was just a once a life experience, got it? This will never, _ever_ , happen again. Understood?" I said as I pulled my top back on over my head.

"Oh, I'm falling for you every time you say stuff like that…"

"In love? Seriously?"

He began laughing. "Yeah, isn't that what girls wanna hear? That we're in love with y'all, that y'all have beautiful eyes, that there's some kind of chemistry between us, and that kind of nonsense…"

I glowered at him, throwing on my shoes without tying them and stormed out the storage towards the women's locker room.

"Your thighs still look fat in that skirt!" his laugh echoed through the hall as I started to run faster.

As I sat there on a bench in the locker room I felt the shame wash over me. Why did I allow myself to fall into his trap? For the first time in my life, I felt remorse over banging a guy. And it was the best lay I had ever had. I had actually slept with another guy a few times because I _pitied_ him but _now_ I feel remorse?

"Okay…" I whispered to myself with my face in my palms, swinging back and forth on the bench. "Alright…let's forget about this. This never happened. This was just one time, one time… Never again…everything's normal again. We hate each other… Everything's normal…"

 **Bubbles**  
Leo and I wanted to do something together during thanksgiving break, maybe go somewhere outside of Townsville. His parents were going to ski in the mountains and had invited us to come. Although…his brothers were going, too… But as long as I was close to Leo nothing was going to happen. Right?

Friday night, the last day of school before the break started, Leo's parents invited me to dinner so we could talk a bit more about the trip. Neither of them had been home when I had visited Leo before and they were always in a hurry at basketball games so this was the first time I would officially meet them. They were very nice to me the whole night – actually, I felt like the most important guest in the world. I didn't have one complaint.

After dinner, Leo and I laid on his bed and talked about everything under the sun. Dinner had been perfect - Leo's brothers hadn't been home to ruin it. It was a Friday night and so they were " _at their friend's house playing video games_ ". But Leo knew better. They were actually at a party, and Leo knew because they had tried to take him with them so he could find a better girlfriend.

"Isn't it boring that you can't go with them to the party?" I asked after a moment of calm silence.

"No… It's much more fun hanging out with you. And if I really wanted to go I would ask you to come with me. But, I don't think you would've wanted to."

"Well… I've actually never been to a party, at least, not with alcohol. And it would only feel dorky if I didn't drink anything." I said nervously.

"I don't drink either." Said Leo. "Or, almost. It sometimes happens that I have a drink or two, but I've never been drunk. Next time we're invited to a party we can go together if you want. I promise not to drink anything if you don't want me to but we can still be there just to socialize with other people. Numskulls aren't the only people who drink."

"Maybe."

I began smiling upwards towards the ceiling. Butterflies fluttered inside my stomach; going to a party, with alcohol, that would actually be kind of fun! But I wouldn't drink anything. I didn't want to betray Professor's trust in me for anything in the world.

 **Blossom**  
Now she's done it again! I really didn't understand what Olivia was thinking but if I did I'm afraid I would've killed her long ago! She talks to Dainton but every time I get closer she's in a hurry to go somewhere. She was meandering too deep into my relationship and I didn't like it!

"You want to eat somewhere tomorrow? A restaurant, maybe? Professor told me about this newly opened Italian restaurant by the train station."

Dainton and I were hanging out at his place. I was currently looking out the window in his bedroom while he was playing a game on his computer.

"Sorry, I've got plans with Olivia."

It felt like my heart fell seven meters and crashed in my stomach where it exploded. "With… with… what did you say?"

"Olivia. She's going to buy a dress for the Yule ball and wanted me to help her find one."

"Oh… that's nice for the two of you."

Didn't she have any friends? And didn't he understand how stupid it sounded to help a girl find a dress when he already had a girlfriend? I did everything in my power to trust him. I mean, if there really was something going on between them he would've never told me he was going to meet up with her in the first place.

"But… you can come with if you want to," he continued playing without looking at me.

"No, thanks. I've already got plans."

"But you just asked if…"

"Yes, but then I remembered Stan called me yesterday. If you're going to spend the day with Olivia, then I can hang out with Stan."

He dropped his game in a heartbeat. His character was killed instantly. He turned around in his chair to look at me. I just stared back rebelliously. "Stan? As in, your ex-boyfriend, Stan?"

"Yes."

"That's nice. It's been a long time since he and you…hung."

"Yeah, he called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to catch up with him. Actually, I need to go now. I need to do my laundry for tomorrow." I stood up, grabbed my bag and went home without kissing him, without even saying goodbye.

/The next day, on Monday, I actually called Stan. I guess I really _did_ want to make Dainton jealous.

" _This is Stan_." He answered his phone hesitantly. I guess he didn't recognize my number.

"Hi! It's Betty!" I said breathlessly.

" _Hi!_ " he _sounded_ excited that it was me calling. " _Wow, it's been a while. What's on your mind?_ "

"Well, since it's been a long time since we've last hung out, I was thinking we could…maybe have a coffee someday and…catch up?"

" _Yeah, I'd like that! Can you make it today? I'm in Townsville this week, actually, but I'll be busy the rest of the week._ "

"So you're not in New Haven for thanksgiving break?"

" _No, my parents wanted me to come home._ "

"Oh, great. And yeah, today will work for me."

" _Want to meet at a café at, say, one o'clock?_ "

"Sure, let's. How about…Gretchen's?" Gretchen's was a café right in the center of the courtyard.

" _Sounds great_."

"Good. See you then, bye!"

" _Bye_."

It felt kind of mean of me doing this to Dainton. But he was doing the same to _me_. The difference was, he'd met someone _new_ and I was going to catch up with an _old_ friend. When I'd thought about it for a bit, it all felt so much better. I'd show him. I could have friends of the opposite sex without doing anything with them!

At one o'clock, I began my journey to Gretchen's café. I'd made sure I was looking extra nice today. I had curled my hair, put on a little more makeup than usual around my eyes, and wore dark tight jeans and a pink sweater with a gray cat on it. I really didn't want to flirt with Stan, but if Dainton saw us I wanted him to see us together and get jealous. Maybe _then_ he would understand how I felt about his outings with Olivia. And if we ran into him, I had a plan in store for Olivia. I was going to make her fall for Stan instead of Dainton, then she would leave us alone.

When I landed outside Gretchen's I saw him. Stan Warrington. With his short cut black hair, narrow brown eyes, and long and slender body, I had forgotten how hot he was…

"There you are!" Stan gave me a tight hug and smiled widely when he let go. "You still wanna go in here or do you want to find something else?"

"This'll be fine."

We went in and ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich each. We went outside with our food and sat down at a table in the outside pavilion. It was often so cold these days, you had to wear warm clothes. But nonetheless, you could still enjoy your meal outside.

"So… how's college going for you? First year and everything." I asked while I threw glances at the clothing shops every other minute or so.

"It's actually going really well. It's true what they say: college years are the best years of your life. I feel at home there already. How's it going for you? Still one more year at Townsville High, right?"

"Yep, one year left."

"How's it going with Dainton? Are you two still dating?"

"No, not really…" I said a bit absently.

I was still searching for signs of Dainton and his _new girlfriend_. I hadn't heard Stan's question. I answered with the first answer I could think of. Usually right after you've asked " _One more year in High School?_ " the follow-up question is " _Still simple?_ " or " _fun?_ ". And life had been anything but.

"Oh, okay, that's sad to hear," Stan said, a hint of pity coating his words, but he gave me a hint of a smile despite it.

I felt like I needed to give him more attention now. He probably thought it was boring talking to me when I didn't even look at him.

"Yeah, it's…a little sad… How do you like your sandwich?"

"I like it! You?"

"It…" Then I spotted them.

Dainton and Olivia came laughing from behind the corner with an ice cream in each of their hands. Olivia was holding on to Dainton's arm - he didn't _seem_ to care about it - he just continued laughing and teasing her. I saw him tickle her and she tried to resist. Then they stopped and just looked at each other. She got closer, and closer… and she gave him a quick kiss on his lips. Just as I thought that the coast was clear, that Dainton was going to yell at her, he kissed her right back - and longer this time.

She saw me! She was looking right at me! Just before she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him harder she was looking straight at me, smirking! So then…she knew I had seen them! It felt like my whole body was freezing. My heart started to beat faster and my breathing got jerky. I choked back a sob.

"Oh…" Stan mumbled. He had noticed. "You wanna go somewhere else?"

Dainton immediately dropped Olivia and looked down on his feet. He had already dropped his ice cream on the ground. He put his palm on his face and turned away from her and saw me. His eyes widened through his fingers. He began walking towards me but I had already stood up and was slowly fleeing the scene. I felt paralyzed from my waist down.

 _Faster, faster._ I silently commanded my body. The sob I was holding in threatened to rack through my body. I was holding on to Stan's hand even though I didn't know where to go. I just wanted to be gone.

"Betty!" Dainton shouted and started to quicken his pace. "Betty, wait!"

"I knew it!" I yelled and stopped. Stan stood frozen still behind me.

"But, sweetie, I…"

"No! No, Dainton! Leave me alone!" I turned to Stan with tear-filled eyes. "It was nice seeing you again. I apologize for what you had to see here today. I need to go home now. Maybe we can do this another time?" I was forcing myself to smile at him as tears started running down my face.

"Yeah, sure. See you, later." Stan said breathlessly, he didn't really know what to say.

I lifted off of the ground without looking at Dainton again.

/That night Dainton called. He wanted us to talk about what had happened. The whole day I had tried to repress what I had witnessed. Tried to forget what had happened this afternoon. To no avail.Instead, I just laid tensely on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to reason with two different voices that were yelling at me. The first voice shouted that we should've just gone with him and Olivia to town to find a dress for her. That way, she wouldn't have been able to do anything with him in the first place, and maybe even call off the shopping spree altogether. The first voice wanted to say that this was entirely my fault.

The second voice growled and said we should meet up with Dainton and beat him up. How could he do such a thing to me? HOW?!

We were going to meet up in Townsville's park, by the fountain. We didn't want our dads to hear us fighting so we decided to meet at this generic place. I really didn't care about the two of us anymore. I had no more energy left for our relationship, but I still wanted to hear his side of the story anyways. Even if it hurt me more.

"I'm here now," I mumbled when I arrived. I saw him, sitting with his back turned away from me, balanced on the edge of the fountain.

"Yeah, I see that…" he replied and turned my way. He gestured that I should sit down next to him and I did. "I need to confess… I was being really unfair to you. When you said you were going to see Stan I got tremendously jealous. He was your first boyfriend. I thought you were going to… I realize now how stupid it was of me to think that you…because you would never cheat on me, I know that… I thought you were going to cheat on me because I was going to spend the day with Olivia…" I was listening carefully. "When you saw her kissing me something happened… I can't describe it, but… I fell for her for just a second…but then I changed my mind! I knew what I did was wrong! I regret everything…"

I stood up and just stared at him, felt how everything inside of me froze all over again. How my heart just fell and fell into a bottomless hole. I felt how my brain was working at full speed. Dainton – my boyfriend who I had been nothing but faithful to – kissed another girl only because he _thought_ I was going to cheat on him.

"How many times did this happen before?" I forced myself to ask. It was hard trying to say anything at all when an invisible hand held my throat in an iron grip.

"That was the first…and last. It was purely impulsive, I regretted everything right after. I don't know what happened. I can't describe it… I'm sorry, Betty…please, forgive me…please, don't leave me. You're the only one I had ever felt like this for. I love you, I…" he started to cry. It was the first time I'd ever seen Dainton cry. He must have actually felt remorseful.

I sat down next to him again and started to cry, as well, hiding my tears, trying not to show that I was hurting as badly as he was. "I don't know…"

"Please, I'm sorry…"

"I can't…" I whispered through my sobs. "I've never felt this before…this is the lowest for me… It's best…" the tears didn't seem to ever stop. "… it's best if we just end this. Cut off clean." My stomach was aching so badly I had to wrap my arms around it to hold it.

"You don't mean… you can't…" Dainton sobbed and scooted closer to me. "Please…we just have to…" the words failed him.

He grabbed my arm and started touching it, began touching my hand, tried to say something but he couldn't. I pulled away and looked towards the ground.

"I should go. You better go home, too. It's starting to get late."

I flew home, never looking back once.


	6. Chapter 5 - Chemistry (edited)

As always I want to thank my favorite person: **Asuki-sama** **!** Who's editing my bad English! :P

 **Chemistry**

 **Bubbles**  
The same morning I was going to go on a ski trip with Leo's family, I found out that Betty had broken up with Dainton. She was very upset and just laid in bed and didn't do anything other than that. At first, I was going to decline Mr. and Mrs. Berger's invitation to the mountains, but Brooke convinced me that she was going to stay home and take care of Betty.

So half past seven that morning, I flew with my luggage over three blocks until I reached Leo's house. It actually wasn't very far from our house. I landed and rang the doorbell. I stood there awkwardly waiting for someone to answer the door. A rush of activity seemed to happen right before the door opened. A pair of big red eyes stared down at me. He emitted a sharp growl and shut the door in my face.

" _Luke!_ " I heard a woman's voice angrily berate. "Oh, Becca. It's so nice you made it! We're going to have so much fun together!" Mrs. Berger, Daniella, cried joyfully after she had opened the door and let me into the house. "Leo! Becca is here!" she shouted up the stairs.

Leo took two steps at a time down the stairs and smiled widely when he saw me. "Hi!" he said happily and kissed me when he came down. "They'll be ready soon, we can sit and wait in the car in the meantime."

"You're not serious about the car-waiting-thing." Charles Berger, Leo's adoptive father, came walking towards me from the kitchen while wiping his hands on a towel. "Come and sit in the dining room. Are you hungry, Becca?"

"Uh, no… thanks."

"Sure you don't want anything? A sandwich maybe? Or a cupcake?"

"No, thank you, it's…"

"Of course, the girl wants a cupcake! I baked them yesterday - into the dining room with you." Said Mrs. Berger who appeared in the lounge again.

"Okay, sure, thanks!" I laughed and looked at Leo who embarrassedly shrugged his shoulders.

Leo whispered-explained to me that they weren't used to having girlfriends in the house, which was why they were behaving so eagerly around me.

"I swear, they're not normally this crazy." He quietly insisted to me after Mrs. Berger had put a whole basket of cupcakes, another basket with all kinds of biscuits, and a pot of tea on the table in front of us.

/Then we were finally on our way on the freeway. Since there were more people than could fit in their regular car, Leo's parents had rented a minivan so that everybody could sit comfortably (Leo and I could just have taken his car but Mr. and Mrs. Berger insisted on having the whole family in one car). There was room for the driver, two seats next to the driver's seat, two seats in the middle of the van and three in the far back. Leo and I took the seats in the back. Luke and Liam could become very annoying if you had them behind you for such a long trip.

"That's too bad, I wanted someone to talk boys with!" Mrs. Berger shouted to us in the back. "Finally a girl in the family. Well, you understand, right, Becca?" she looked meaningfully at her family that exclusively contained only males apart from herself.

"Y'all 're gonna have a lot of time discussing boys when we arrive at the cabin. Y'all gonna have an entire seven days for that!" Mr. Berger laughed from the driver's seat.

"He'll spend those entire seven days cuddling his _girlfriend_." Luke quipped snidely. "Won't be much skiing for him."

Mr. and Mrs. Berger laughed. Apparently, they thought Luke had just made a cute joke but both Leo and I knew the real degrading meaning behind his rather _innocent_ joke. Luke and Liam still hadn't gotten used to me even though Leo and I had been dating for almost two months now.

"Are you jealous because _you've_ never touched a girl before?" Liam teased him. With a quick movement, Luke punched Liam on his shoulder so hard that I jumped in my seat. "Fun!" Liam laughed and punched Luke back - if it was possible - even harder.

Luke said something in Spanish that I didn't understand (it sounded like "pinche idiota") while rubbing his shoulder. Apparently, it was something really bad because it made Mrs. Berger almost lose her mind out of anger. Why he spoke Spanish and how Mrs. Berger understood him I have no idea.

Leo threw his arm over my shoulders and sighed, "Welcome to the family."

/When we arrived at the cabin, Luke and Liam were the first out of the van and started throwing snowballs at each other. Leo and I helped Mr. and Mrs. Berger unpack the car and bring everything into the cabin. It was actually kind of big and really, really cozy!

/The entire thanksgiving break just flew by. Leo, his family, and I had been in the cabin in the mountains the entire week and it was actually a very successful trip. Luke and Liam weren't in our faces once; they had been in the tourist village the entire week, hitting on girls and playing games or something.

Betty was still in bed when I came home. I felt so sorry for her so I spent all my free time with her. I brought ice cream with me and talked with her all the time. She needed a shoulder to cry on, Dainton had been good at that.

Brooke too spent more and more time with us. She showed sides of her we had never seen before, sensitive sides.

Professor had found out about Betty and Dainton as well. He was very understanding and behaved cautiously around her.

/"But it actually feels right…" she said when we were alone in her bedroom one night, eating raspberry sorbet right out of the cartridge. "I've had that feeling a long time that we… nothing."

"What?" I asked her.

Betty took a deep breath. "You remember Stan? When he broke up with me I felt devastated... I think I started dating Dainton because I needed to focus my feelings away from Stan. It didn't really feel _real_ with Dainton… you know?"

I nodded. Betty did seem to be happy with Dainton. But maybe that was just it.

/When school started again - after almost one and a half week - the first snow started to fall. It was in the beginning of November and the weather just couldn't be any colder - it was like it was changing with Betty's mood. Sure, she had ice power, which neither Brooke nor I had, but the weather?

Betty, Brooke, and I went together to math class. Something must have happened to Brooke as well. She had _never_ gone to the first class of the day, and absolutely not after a break. Maybe that curfew finally fixed her?

Betty was making notes on her laptop (even though she had a photographic memory) while the teacher was tutoring, I sat next to her making notes in my notebook (rather slower), while Brooke sat on my right staring out the window. Outside, on the outdoors basketball court, a bunch of guys from the basketball team played around with a ball. Maybe she liked one of them? Was that the reason she was acting so strange? Or maybe she was just longing for class to be over.

 **Buttercup**  
Becca seemed to have noticed I was watching the guys from the basketball team so I immediately looked back at the blackboard again. She was the only one who shouldn't - couldn't - see that it was Liam I was watching. She would just call me a hypocrite.

Becca and Leo had been dating for almost two months now and Betty broke up with her boyfriend last week. Now, I wasn't the only single anymore, but I didn't really want a boyfriend either… There's something about…sigh…Liam. Since our…situation in the ball storage, I started to have a strange feeling about him. I still hated him, so much. I boiled with rage every time I thought about him, but, at the same time, something about him really drew me towards him.

I peeked out the window again to check what was so special about him. He had his regular black Mohawk on his head, wore black shorts, and his iconic camouflage-patterned jacket without anything at all under it - didn't he think it was cold outside at all? I could almost see the goose bumps on his chest…maybe the jacket could just slip a little to the side so that I could have a little peek… He turned his head and looked straight at me and stopped dead in the middle of a step with the ball in his hands. He gave me that crooked jeer again with those sleepy, heavy eyes. Then he nodded his head at me.

I quickly looked away again and tried thinking about something else. For example, what the square root of seven-hundred-thirty-five is.

/At lunch break, I sat on a bench in the school yard together with Tilly, Heather, and Amber. We were chatting about nothing special as usual. It wasn't snowing anymore but the ground around us was stuffed full of the leftover snow. The air was cold and everything was just woeful and weird… I had actually declined the cig that Tilly offered me.

"What's with you today?" she asked and tossed her hair over her shoulder as Mike Rooker walked past us. She had been crushing on him for a long time but he didn't seem to notice her at all.

"Nothing. I'm trying to cut back on some things." I said indifferently.

"Is it a guy?"

"No! Of course not! I would never do anything for a guy. _They_ are the ones doing things for _me_." I lied. I was a total stranger to myself when Robin wasn't around.

"Oh, goodie, Jake is coming!" speak of the devil; Robin just arrived. I whirled my head around to find the source of my happiness and saw Robin pointing to something ways away.

I looked the way Robin was pointing to. Jake, the school teams' mascot, was indeed walking there…with Liam as company. That gave me an idea.

"Jake! Hey, Jake!"

Jake spotted me and began walking towards us with Liam trailing him with his usual sneer. Understandable, he had figured out what I was up to… I think. I stood in front of Jake and tried to look flirty. I'd never been good at that when I was sober.

"Hey… There's a party on Saturday. Maybe you want to go…with me?"

At first, I thought I was going to get laughed at, but he gave me a wide smile and said, "Sure."

I got a little closer to him and gave him my biggest puppy eyes and tucked my hair behind my ear to look a little more flirtatious. I glanced at Liam who looked suspicious. I sneered back. "Maybe we could…do other stuff than partying, I mean?" I whispered to Jake but loud enough so that Liam could hear me as well. I saw him roll his eyes behind Jake.

"Sure…" Jake just said again, a bit confused about my sudden confidence. "Sure, Brooke." He smiled at me excitedly. "See you Saturday."

/"I saw straight through you!"

I was on my way home after practice. We had been rehearsing a new dance for the football game that was two weeks from now. I had just finished showering and put my shoes on, and when I walked beneath the big oak outside the girl's locker room I heard Liam's voice above me, from the tree. I looked up and saw him hanging upside down from a branch almost ten feet up.

"What do you mean?" I shouted back with a sly smile.

He jumped down the tree and landed smoothly with a light thud on the ground (he didn't show any signs of having pain in his feet) and pulled his black hair back from his eyes. _It's not in a Mohawk_ , I thought with surprise. He straightened his white shirt, which had been pulled over his belly. His perfect belly with his perfect abs and…

"You're so transparent you're almost invisible! That little thing with Jake earlier today… Isn't one guy a month enough? Are you really that big of a slut?"

"Watch yourself," I warned him. "And that's none of your business. By the way, I've seen you with different girls every week, you think I haven't seen you drag them out of the bathrooms every day?"

"They're my *FBs and they know of each other."

"Oh yeah, and what's your brother going to say when he finds out about you and me?"

"He'd say I'm the king." Liam laughed arrogantly.

I pushed him out of my way and kept walking. Just as I was going to lift off the ground he grabbed hold of my ankle. "Let go!" I demanded angrily.

"Hey, sorry I called you a slut."

"What is wrong with you?" I asked as I landed in front of him again. "What do you want?"

"You can't deny there's chemistry between us."

"How dare you throw that in my face again?"

"I've been waiting for your practice to end…the boy's locker room is empty…"

"Oh, my god! I don't care! I would never fall for that again even if you were the last guy on earth!"

"And this whole charade with Jake?" I just stared at him, speechless. "Ohh…" he said with a comprehending sigh. "Now I get it. You have no problem sleeping with strange guys." He began to have a self-assured grin and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "That's how it is, huh? The guys only get one shot each and then they have to…" BANG! "I'm starting to get used to that." He rubbed his red cheek and chuckled.

In actuality, Liam had been the best sex I had ever imagined, but that was one thing I would never admit to him…or to myself.

"Bye," I said and started to walk away again.

"Okay, okay, okay!" he amended quickly and stood in front of me. "I'll behave."

I sighed. "It was a mistake, okay? So just stop. This needs to end now."

"But it's just begun." His crooked smile… I both hated it and kind of liked it at the same time.

"No. No more." I persisted. "You're evil and I'm good… it'll never work."

" _I'm_ the one getting slapped over and over. Tell me who the evil one is, again?" I just stood quiet and stared at him once more. "I was watching you at practice… You made me crazy."'

"I didn't see you on the bleachers."

"I didn't want you to see me."

"Why not?" I asked with wrinkled forehead.

"If you saw me watching you then you would've tried to get home faster and I wouldn't have been able to catch you."

"So that was your plan, sit and sulk and then try to get me back into the boy's locker room? That's not very upstanding, even for you. What are you, a stalker?"

"Admit it, you _like_ bad guys." He sneered worse than ever - without answering my question, the little bastard.

"I'm not afraid of you." I sneered back.

"Maybe a cold shower could calm your horses?"

"I decide the temperature."

"Yes, ma'am."

I don't know why I did it. It must have been his accent, or the calm eyes, or the absolute confidence, or the obvious…sigh…chemistry. But in the end, I followed him to the boy's locker room even though I said that I wouldn't.

 **Blossom**  
I just couldn't believe Dainton had actually been unfaithful to me, even though he _only gave her an innocent kiss_ , didn't that mean he had feelings for her? After a year of almost no fighting, he cheated on me.

I didn't really remember why Stan and I had broken up. It was something about how I was so in love with him that I'd rather be with him than focus on my studies. One night I sneaked out to be with him, so he broke up with me. He said that he did it for me.

I did better in school again after that but was it worth it? Almost two weeks after that I couldn't stand it anymore, I missed Stan so much it hurt. Brooke suggested that I could meet with some "temp-guys" to hook up with someone who could distract me from Stan. That's exactly what Dainton was in the beginning…only, I fell in love with him for real. I think…

And it worked. I got rid of any thoughts of Stan. It's just that…I wasn't as obsessed with Dainton because I had learned my lesson from my first relationship.

Should I do it again? Should I meet a temp guy so that I could stop thinking about Dainton… did I want to stop thinking about Dainton? Yes! Stan broke up with me because he was thinking of me. Dainton had feelings for another girl. He hadn't even called me to try and get me back…

/It was Saturday evening and I hadn't done anything else than lie in bed and be sad. I wanted to get rid of these emotions right now! I dialed a number on my cell phone but hung up. I dialed the same number again but pressed cancel. Was it really that hard making a call? Third time's the charm. I put the phone to my ear and heard the ringing.

" _Hello?_ " a voice answered.

"Meet me by the fountain in the park!"

 **Bubbles**  
Leo and I were lying next to each other on my bed in my bedroom. We were talking about everything as usual, but I couldn't help but worry about Betty.

"She'll get over him. What he did was really mean. I mean, if I had feelings for another girl-" I sat up so quickly my pillow flew across the room. "No, no, no!" Leo quickly said. "I mean that if I began having feelings for another girl I would make sure my first relationship was ended. I would never cheat on you…" I wasn't convinced. "But that will never happen, Becca, because you are the only one for me; you've always been…"

"But…why didn't you ask me to prom, then?" I asked. I knew I'd lost track of the subject but I couldn't hold back the question.

"To be honest… I was actually going to do it but… I didn't dare to. Then Linda asked me and I thought it would be rude saying no. All of a sudden we were dating and I had already convinced myself that you didn't feel the same. Sometimes…it really didn't feel like you did."

"I was shy…" I whispered and lay down next to him again. "I think I pulled away because I got too shy when I got too close to you."

Leo hugged me tightly. "Believe me, I was also shy, but now we're here. Together."

I heard a door open on the level beneath us. "I'm just gonna check on Betty. Maybe she's not feeling okay." I ran down the stairs in a second and caught Betty hastily tying her shoes. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, I'm going to, uh…the park."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just gonna meet someone…"

"Not Dainton, I hope? Oh, Betty, we have already been through this! He was the one who did wrong and you shouldn't fall for him again! He'll only do it again if you take him back now!"

She looked frightened for a moment before she flew as fast as she could out the door.

 **Buttercup**  
I knew I wasn't allowed to drink, for Professor and all, and this time I wouldn't blow it, either. I was going to be dry. Jake waved at me from the couch when I walked into Robin's living room that evening at the party. Her parents were traveling this weekend. As I had suspected, Liam was there. He wasn't far away from Jake and Luke Berger. Liam and I looked at each other for a few tentative seconds before looking away again.

"Dainton?"

Dainton, Betty's ex-boyfriend, stood leaning against the wall with a beer can in his hand. He was chatting with Olivia, the French girl on my cheerleading squad. I didn't know they had started dating.

"Hi, Brooke. What's up?" he asked a bit lamely. I guess he felt embarrassed for standing there with her.

"So the two of you are _finally_ together now?" I asked sarcastically.

"Zat's none of your business!" Olivia said and stood in front of Dainton. "We 'appen to be awfully in love and you can't do anything to stop us!"

"No, but…" Dainton mumbled.

"Silence, my love. Let's go and sit in zose sofas, _Brooke_ isn't going to ruin our special night!"

"But… I need to go soon…" Dainton didn't have any more time to object - Olivia dragged him to a green coach and threw him down on it.

I shrugged my shoulders and sat down next to Jake and immediately started touching him. Liam sat with Tilly on his lap in the chair opposite to us. He was groping her about. It had started as a contest between the two of us, who dared to go furthest? My hands were on Jake's thighs… Liam's was on Tilly's breasts... I started to fool around with Jake… Liam started to snog Tilly.

"Come…" I whispered in Jake's ear and led him to the only vacant bedroom. I knew I had won. Liam didn't stand a chance against me.

 **Blossom**  
Almost ten minutes had gone by and he hadn't turned up yet. I sat on the fountain outside Stan's campus in New haven, Connecticut, and I was hoping he'd understood I meant this park. My legs were shaking so bad I had to hold on to them with my hands. My brain was working at full speed and my stomach felt like a big clump of Jell-O. It was really chilly outside but that wasn't the reason my legs were shaking.

"Hey, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" I turned around when I heard his voice. He had understood.

"Sit down…" I said as calm as I could. He sat down next to me. "It's going great for me in school, I'm actually one of the best. Or…to be honest, I am the best student in my field…"

"That's great." Stan gave me a compassionate smile. I guess he was a bit annoyed with me considering what happened the last time we met. "But…when you said that you and Dainton weren't dating anymore…"

"I know, I know… That wasn't true, but I did actually suspect him being unfaithful. I need to tell you the truth…" I took a deep breath while looking at my lap. "I only wanted to meet up with you so that I could spy on him and that girl, and I wanted him to see you with me and get jealous. I know it was really awful to use you like that, I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me."

"It's okay. The reason I said yes was because I thought that you maybe wanted to start things up between us again, but I should've realized it was something else since you wanted to meet in such a short notice."

"Maybe I didn't want it the _first_ time…" I felt the nervousness sneaking up on me. "Well, I've been thinking… It was a really stupid reason that broke us up before and…"

"If I didn't know any better I would think you're trying to make me into a temp guy?" he said suddenly.

"I was thinking of that first…" I confessed and turned a little so that we were sitting face to face. "But…as I said, I thought a bit more. I've become a better person, I learned from the past. I still miss you, I can't deny that."

"I've missed you, too, but are you sure about this? I mean, you _just_ broke it off with Dainton; don't you still have feelings for him?"

"I do, but those feelings are nothing compared to the feelings I have - and actually always have had - for you."

That was partly true, Dainton was nothing compared to Stan. Stan had black, almost soft and smooth hair. He was tall and good looking and always dressed in nice clothes. He liked horseback riding as did I. He was rich (but that didn't matter; especially since I was going to get even richer after I finished high school), he was intelligent, and attended one of the best colleges in America – Yale. And his eyes, his glowing brown eyes…

Dainton had messy dark blonde hair, wasn't as tall as Stan or as good looking but he had a great taste in fashion – at least after he met me. But those things didn't really matter either, only that… I'm sorry, it was Mindy who said this, I was out of his league. His dad was rich, as well but Dainton seemed to like computers and games more than any of my hobbies, we didn't really have anything in common. If we spent time together we always did what he wanted, like sitting in his bedroom playing video games, I didn't like playing video games…

Stan and I always did stuff we both wanted to do, and we always agreed on everything. We simply had _that_ – we had the chemistry.

I told Stan about all of these differences and he seemed to understand as well that maybe we were as made for each other – not Dainton and me.

"You wanna do something fun? I heard from a friend of mine that his friend's sister is having a party in Townsville tonight." Said Stan.

"Sure, if you want to!" a party would be fun, as long as I didn't drink anything myself.

"You sure? I was just kidding."

I just smiled and took his hand. "Let's fly."

 **Buttercup**  
I lead Jake out of Robin's parent's bedroom twenty minutes later with messy hair. I couldn't see Liam wherever I looked.

"You want something to drink?" Jake asked me a little dizzily.

"A beer, thanks. I'll go sit in one of the couches." I said tiredly and sat down. That's that with the white night I promised.

I was still looking around for Liam, but it didn't take long before I spotted Tilly making out with Roy in a corner of the living room. Roy was the captain of the football's team and still had the cast on his arm from when Becca pushed him. Tilly saw me and freed herself from Roy. She then walked towards me and sat down.

"So…you and Liam, eh?" I said teasingly so that she wouldn't suspect I was incredibly mad at her. I could've beaten her black and blue from where she stood, I was so angry. Did I really have these emotions…for Liam?

"Oh… It's nothing!" she laughed. "We…went out behind the deck and…" she turned to the back door and licked her lip. "Wow, what a guy!"

"So where is he now?" I asked through my teeth.

"He went to another party in Citiesville," Tilly said and rolled her eyes. "You know Liam; he's never in one spot for long."

"At this hour?" I looked at my cellphone. It was ten p.m.

"Yeah… I don't know why-"

We both stopped talking as we heard a girl sing along with Mono in the ME2 song that was blaring out the speakers. A chill ran down my spine as I recognized her voice. I turned around and saw Betty in the lounge with a cute black haired guy. _Betty_ with a beer in one hand and his neck in the other. He didn't seem annoyed by her. Instead, he laughed and tried helping her up. Then he went all the way to me and shoved her down next to me in the couch.

"Hi, Brooke, could you maybe keep an eye on your sister for me? I need to go to the bathroom." Stan Warrington said. Betty's _ex-boyfriend_. Her _ex_. God, didn't he attend a school in Connecticut?

Stan left me with Betty and walked towards the downstairs bathroom.

"What are you doing?" I asked Betty angrily. "Don't you remember how destroyed you got after Stan dumped you a year ago? And you're drunk, for fuck's sake! How much did you drink?"

"Just a few drinks and this beer! I'm fine sis'!" she giggled happily as she turned to me. While starting to slide down onto the floor.

I lifted her up again and let her lean on me. She continued talking as if she didn't notice she had almost fallen down on the floor.

"Dainton doesn't mean anything to me anymore. If he wants to date a whore, then I won't stand in the way for him and his happiness! Stan and I have finally found each other again, and we came to thank Dainton for that!"

"And making you drunk? Betty, you're wasted! What do you think Professor will say when you get home? He's never seen you like this before!"

"That's because I've never been drunk before… But please, oh, you can't say anything to him!" she pleaded. "I'm going to sleep at Stan's tonight, please tell Professor I slept at Mindy's. I've lied for you several times before…"

"Just don't do anything you'll regret in the morning," I said quietly. Dainton was watching Betty in a way he had never looked at her before. He stood up stiffly from the coach opposite to us and stormed out of the lounge.

"And don't forget your whore!" shouted Betty.

He stopped in the hallway and took a few angry steps back towards Betty, but he seemed to have changed his mind and slammed the door on his way out. Olivia ran after him.

 **Blossom**  
I woke up the morning after with my hair glued to my face and the pillow all soaked. I think I had drooled overnight. When I realized where I was, I quickly wiped away the saliva on my cheek and sat up to see where Stan was. He wasn't sleeping in the bed next to me. But I shouldn't have sat up so quickly. The second my sight became sharp again, the blinding white walls penetrated my retina, my head started pounding and my stomach struggled against vomit. With a moan, I lie down again and put the wet pillow over my face.

"Are you okay?" I heard Stan's voice beneath me on the floor.

"Why…" I struggled against a burp. "Why are you laying on the floor?"

"Do you know how much you kick when you sleep? I had almost forgotten about it."

"Sorry…"

"Do you want anything? You said yesterday you've been drinking before but you've never had a hangover before because of your powers."

Was this a hangover? So this was how it felt? Brooke once told me that you felt a bit sick and a little dizzy the first half of the day, but I was absolutely not prepared for this.

"No, thanks…" I answered his question. "And did I really say that?"

"Otherwise I wouldn't have let you drink that much. I had to help you all the way to my house."

"Sorry, again… did your mom see me?" I realized we were in his bedroom at his house.

"No, both she and dad were sleeping when we came home last night. They were surprised seeing me this morning." Stan stood up from the mattress on the floor and sat down next to me in the bed. And I regretted it instantly, because when he sat down the contents in my stomach sloshed around terribly. "You'll need some water and an aspirin, at least."

"Water is good…" I whispered and took the pillow off my face. "Thank you for taking care of me yesterday, spare the embarrassing stuff at the end."

At ten a.m., Stan thought it was time for me to at least sit up in bed and watch TV and eat my breakfast. He treated me as if I was a delicate porcelain doll. He told me about the time he was hung over for the first time and he understood how painful it was to just try to keep your eyes open.

"My birthday is in three months, by the way."

"February seventh, I remember. We met on your birthday." I said, a tad more energized.

"And your birthday is August twenty-second, I remember, too," said Stan as we watched the fifty-inch TV screen on the wall opposite to the bed. "How do you like your sandwich?"

"Perfect," I said just as I had taken a bite.

"They know you're here, by the way." He was talking about his parents. "I said we've been talking for a few weeks already so they don't think we just suddenly met and spent the night together. I needed an alibi for not being in New Haven, after all." He teased.

"But that _is_ how it went…" I sighed and felt the mood sink. "Are we doing this wrong, Stan? Does this feel wrong to you? Oh, I'm so sorry for everything… What a nice start, huh?"

"I just don't want them to judge you too early; you know how my parents are. I don't care. I thought it was nice that you called me again. And by the way, I'm the one that suggested that we go to that party." Stan leaned against the wall where I sat, and took the empty plate from my lap, putting it on the side table and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

Stan's family really was a top notch one. His parents lived in a big mansion right outside of Townsville with a butler and a maid. Growing up, Stan and his little brother (who attended the High School in Citiesville, just as Stan did) had a nanny. Stan still had his big bedroom whenever he visited on the weekends and holidays. And it was in that room that I was now sitting in and feeling as shameful as a misbehaving puppy. His parents were probably somewhere else in the house, playing chess, and wondering why I hadn't come down yet and eat breakfast with them.

How was I supposed to explain this to Professor? What was I even doing?

*3 meters = 9 feet 10 inches  
*FB = F*ck Buddy

Please leave a comment! :D


	7. Chapter 6 - Moody (edited)

**Moody**

 **Author: me  
Editor, tailor, best person in the world: Asuki-sama!**

 **Bubbles**  
That Sunday afternoon, when I stood in the hall and freshened myself up for my date with Leo, Betty entered the front door.

"Where were you last night?" I asked her.

"At Mindy's." she said quickly.

"Are you okay?" There were dark circles under her eyes and she generally looked tired.

"Uh… yeah…" Betty went straight to her bedroom without saying anything more.

She must have been at Mindy's talking about Dainton all night! And here I was thinking she flew off so fast because she was going to try and take him back! I needed to try and make up for being so distant lately. Of _course_ , she was seeking another friend… _I_ was too busy hanging out with my boyfriend instead of helping my sister through this…

I knocked on her door and opened it just a crack. Betty was already in bed. "You wanna talk about it?" I asked her.

"No, I'm fine. I'll just sleep for a bit." She said and smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." She promised me. "I'll call you if I need you, okay? I only want to sleep right now."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you."

I closed her door and flew out the house. If Betty was really okay… Leo wanted to meet up at his house. He was waiting for me there and we started walking towards the town to eat lunch together. It was really cold outside; winter was on its way.

Leo seemed a bit odd today. He was…unsure, anxious, almost as if he didn't have the courage to talk to me. I took his hand and observed him kindly, trying to find something hidden in his face.

"What?" he asked nervously.

"Do you know that you're the most beautiful creature in the world?" I told him.

He relaxed and chuckled. "I can't be since you are."

I shielded away from him shyly, and looked down on the ground, not understanding where I got the courage to say that to him. We had been dating for almost three months now but it still felt so new between us. I was so in love!

"What are you thinking about?" I asked him. I wanted an answer on why he was acting…so…strange. Oh, all this thinking made me feel so nervous!

"I might as well just say it, right?" he sighed with a smile and hugged my hand a little tighter. "I love you, Becca."

We stopped and I just stared at him. My eyes started to water and my heart thumped against my ribs. It was the first time he said that to me; the first time _any_ guy had ever said that to me.

"I love you, too." I breathed shakily.

Leo bent down to kiss me. For a long time.

I love Leo Berger!

 **Buttercup**  
When I got to school the next Monday morning, I saw Liam arguing with Jake next to the school's trophy cabinet.

"…you knew about it and I warned you!" Liam snarled just as I passed them.

"Hi, Jake," I said seductively without even looking at Liam.

Liam watched me pass them with something that looked like anger in his face before turning to Jake again and said something I didn't catch. Finally, I had achieved something; he was actually jealous about what happened last Friday! He was genuinely jealous! Why else was he this furious with Jake?

I smiled to myself as I walked to my locker. Just as I was finished turning the code knob to unlock my locker, I heard a loud crash and turned around. Liam had pushed Jake into the trophy cabinet. He picked Jake up from the floor, punched him in the stomach and then stormed out of the building. I was just so shocked I didn't know what to do.

Some of the girls that were standing around screamed, their hands covering their mouths. Jake was moving slowly on the floor and some of his friends, who had been standing a few meters from him before Liam beat the fuck out of Jake, ran to help him.

This wasn't what I wanted…was it?

 **Bubbles**  
The Yule ball was in only two weeks.

Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica, Henrietta, and I rode the bus to the mall district – Ginger's car was at the mechanic – on Monday to buy dresses for the party. _This_ was what I had been saving my birthday money for.

Everyone except for Ginger had a date for the ball. I had Leo, Mathilda was going with his friend Simon (the one with brown skin and green eyes), Jessica was with a boy named Patrick, and Henrietta was going with a boy from her home economics class named Jared. Finding a date for Ginger was, therefore, the hottest topic today.

"How about Gordon?" Jessica wondered while we walked through the mall together.

"Jones? That big blonde guy from the football's team, are you kidding?" Henrietta exclaimed.

"What? He has gorgeous eyes!"

"He's too popular…" said Mathilda. "Maybe Malcolm?"

"Not that nerd," I said. "And wow, Mathilda, that was kinda mean to say."

"That's not what I meant!" she gave Ginger an apologetic look. "And look who's talking; ' _nerd_ '?"

"Okay, I'm sorry…"

"How 'bout Calvin Thatcher from Science? Becca, is he nice?" Jessica asked.

"Well, yeah…but he is always making bad jokes, he's too stuck up."

"But he is so cute!" Jessica mumbled.

"Maybe _you_ should have invited _him_ instead of Patrick?" Mathilda teased her.

"It was Patrick who asked me!" said Jessica with mock anger. "But I wouldn't have said no if Calvin had asked me… He's constantly throwing me glances in P.E."

"Well I can back you up on that one; he should've asked you." Said Mathilda. "But we need to focus on Ginger now. Ooh, how about…"

"Ooh, ooh, can I decide my own date?" asked Ginger sarcastically, jumping up and down with empty enthusiasm, one hand raised over her head.

We all laughed and sat down at a table in the mall's ice cream bar, the _Ice Cream U' Scream_.

"Well, I think Donny is hot, actually," Mathilda said as if she had just come to think about him. She didn't seem to care that Ginger was sick of the topic.

"He's too popular…" Ginger mumbled.

"Isn't there a guy you can think of?" Henrietta asked. "Like…don't you know any cute and nice guy from Arts?"

"Michael…but he has a girlfriend. Maybe Fred?" said Ginger.

"Hey, ladies!" Leo came walking through the mall district with his skateboard under his arm. He kissed me on my cheek and sat down on a chair next to me. "Are y'all talking about me again?"

My friends began giggling like crazy; they always did that when Leo was around. But I wouldn't blame them. He had always gotten loads of attention from all of us and other girls through the years. I wasn't kidding about his angelic appearance or his perfect personality.

"Ginger hasn't been asked to the ball." I pleaded as I couldn't fathom how this beautiful boy wanted to be with me of all girls in school.

"Maybe you can share me?" he teased.

"Stop it." I laughed and smacked his shoulder. "For real, though."

"How about Clyde? He just went to the bathroom and I was just going to wait for him outside." He nodded his head towards the exit behind Henrietta. "He hasn't asked anybody either. You want me to ask him for you?"

"Oh…well…no…" Ginger said, insecurely.

"Of course you are! He _is_ really cute, Ginger!" said Mathilda and slammed her palms on the table.

"Speak of the devil." Said Leo and reached his hand out when Clyde came walking. I hope he wasn't going to ask him right now while Ginger and the rest of us were watching?

Clyde had long and straight hazel brown hair, just as long as Leo's only Leo's hair was blonde and wavy. Clyde was tall but shorter than Leo as Leo was six foot three. He had big brown hazel eyes, a crooked nose, and similar baggy clothes as Leo's.

"Not here!" I mouthed at Leo behind my hand. He just gave me a comforting pat on my knee.

"Clyde, look who I ran into!" said Leo when Clyde arrived at the table. "Becca, Mathilda, Henrietta and…Ginger."

He left Ginger's name for last and pronounced her name a bit slower. Smart, that way Clyde would most likely remember her name of all of us (even though they had already met they had almost never talked to each other and maybe that was why he hadn't noticed Ginger before).

"Hey." Said Clyde and waved a little. He too had a skateboard under his arm.

"Well we're going to the Skate house now, Simon's waiting. See you later, Beccs." Leo leaned over to kiss me. "Oh, yeah, and Ginger?"

"Yes?" she looked surprised as she wasn't used to Leo asking her anything personally, and I realized that it was only to let Clyde's eyes rest on her again.

"Or…no, never mind. I can borrow it another time. See y'all later!"

When they were gone we all leaned over the table and screamed quietly.

"Gosh, Leo is clever!" Mathilda whispered. "No way Clyde missed you, Ginger!"

"Oh… I don't know…" Ginger mumbled, her face turning red.

"I believe in the two of you." Said Jessica.

"What was it you wanted to tell us, by the way, Becca?" Henrietta asked me. "You said it was something about Leo."

"Alright, listen up…" I said hastily. "Yesterday Leo wanted to take me downtown to eat lunch, but before we even arrived…he said the three magic words.

They all screamed and Mathilda who was the loudest shouted, "Did he say that he loves you?!" I nodded my head and laughed at their reaction. "And you said it back?" I nodded again. "Oh, sweetie, you're the best couple ever!"

 **Blossom**  
Something didn't really feel right. When I sat in my desk chair three weeks after that party at Robin's house, I wondered how it would be to date Stan again. Sure, he was nice and my first love with capital L before Dainton but…it felt wrong jumping into a relationship this fast after my last break up. We had already talked about this and agreed to that we wanted to slow things down – we hadn't even kissed yet, only talked about it. It felt really cozy and nice being around him again, but…we were more like…friends? I knew I told him all that stuff by the fountain at his campus, but now it felt more like I've always wanted Stan as a friend and nothing more or… I didn't know, actually. At the same time, it felt like such a waste because, let's face it, Stan was hot and any girl would be lucky to have him! So why couldn't I?

Professor, Brooke, and Becca haven't figured anything out yet. And they wouldn't until Stan and I get serious – if we get serious. Maybe I should ask him to the Christmas ball next week?

 **Professor**  
The atmosphere at home had turned for the worse recently – the girls weren't as happy as they used to be; they hardly talked to one another anymore, let alone with _me_. Now, they mostly just trapped themselves in their own bedrooms for hours on end, minding their own businesses. Before, they would all come to the living room every night and watch some random nature documentary or a romantic late night movie together. They loved doing stuff like that even though they weren't really interested in the TV. Talking and socializing were usually one of their favorite things to do together. Heck, just _being_ together made them happy...

Maybe this lack of social closeness was because of Buttercup getting busted for being an ordinary teenager. Or maybe Blossom, who had just recently broken up with her long-term boyfriend. Or it might have been because Bubbles, sweet, sweet Bubbles, started dating her first boyfriend and only ever wanted to spend time with him? I couldn't tell for sure, but as a father, it hurt me to see my girls like this.

The night before their Christmas party (or, I'm sorry, the Yule ball), I tried to pick the thread up from where we had lost it. Just before I called them, I read that the Princess, a girl who wanted to be a Powerpuff girl many years prior but failed because she had tried to cheat, had been released from Townsville's prison. She had been there for three years… I hoped that warden Walton knew what he was doing.

Once, they arrived, I told Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup to sit down on the couches in the living room so that I could talk with them.

"What is it, Professor?" Bubbles asked curiously, a little worry sneaking into her voice. She was such a sweetheart.

"Well…" I was _going_ to tell the girls about my observations but…I changed my mind. What if I was just overreacting? "Girls, what do you say about watching a movie at the theaters tonight? It's only five PM. We can eat something and then watch the movie after that?"

The girls sat quietly for a moment while thinking about what I asked. I started fidgeting nervously. What if they said no? I didn't want to seem like those desperate dads vying for his children's time… They looked at each other for a moment and then turned to me.

"I have time." Said Buttercup and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, sure. Me, too." Bubbles said. "Leo has this evening course he's attending."

"Well… I don't know." Said Blossom. "I sorta have this thing I was going to do tonight."

Well…two was better than none, right? Right…?

 **Blossom**  
How will I get out of this one? I had promised Stan to go to the movies with him this exact night. He had already flown from New Haven this week and booked the tickets to the movie and everything. If Professor wanted to see a movie _tonight_ we were going to run into each other. And I wasn't ready for that.

"Oh, okay… What are you going to do, then?" Professor wondered with a patient smile.

"I'm going to…uh…meet up with Mindy at the mall."

"It's closed now." Said Becca suspiciously.

"No, we won't go _in_ it; we'll just meet up outside and then take a walk to her house."

"She doesn't even live close to there." Said Brooke.

"I said we're going to take a walk." I felt my face grow warmer and warmer. I hoped they didn't see me blush!

"But why are you meeting up with her at the mall when you can just walk there together? She lives the other way, doesn't she?" Brooke pointed to the opposite way from the mall and sneered at me. "What's up, Betty?"

"What are you going to do, Blossom?" Professor said stiffly, his tone was suddenly strict and terse.

Okay, it was now or never.

"I have a date with Stan…" I mumbled with hanging head. I cringed internally, waiting for the casket to blow.

"With who!?" Becca exclaimed.

"With Stan, okay? We've started to see each other again. What?" I yelled angrily at my family. They _literally_ began to sigh and groan. "And don't call me Blossom!" I shouted, a note of finality hanging in the air, at Professor before I stormed into my bedroom.

 **Bubbles**  
Professor stared at Betty's door for a while before rubbing his eyes with one hand. He seemed really upset over what he had just heard.

"Professor?" I asked him carefully.

"Are you okay?" Brooke wondered.

"I'm not going to lie to you, girls…" he said with a raspy voice. "I don't know what's going on anymore. Time's flying by and you all are growing up so fast. To be honest, I have no idea how to handle teenage girls."

"Don't lie to us. Surely you know everything about girls, Prof!" said Brooke and sat down next to him. "I bet you were a real player back in your day!" she gave him a friendly nudge on his shoulder, but when he looked up he didn't look amused at all. Brooke quickly moved away from him again.

"I guess it's time to cook dinner…" he mumbled and went to the kitchen.

"We can still eat out!" said Brooke in an attempt to cheer him up. "Just the three of us!"

"Yes!" I said, forcing some fake cheer into my voice. People say that if you can fake a smile, a real one would come in time, too…I think. "And later we can watch this new movie… Actually, It's not really new, it's been in the theaters for a few weeks already but I think we should see it!"

"Another time, girls." Said Professor, disheartened, still turned towards the kitchen. The fake happiness didn't work. "When the whole family is gathered." With those words, Professor went into the kitchen. My phony smile slid right off my face.

"I can understand it's tough for him right now. He's been putting up with a lot these months and suddenly…" I sympathized sadly. How could I miss all this while I was so caught up with Leo? This was my family, for Pete's sake! I blew out a long, low breath. The draft caught my bangs, making them fly up and dance in the wind almost happily. The complete opposite of what I was feeling.

Brooke didn't answer right away. She seemed to be all lost in thought. Seeing my brash, fearless older sister reflecting quietly unnerved me, making me start to meditate on our family's fracturing emotional state as well. Oh, how did it come to this!?

"When did Betty become friends with Stan?" I asked loudly. Anything to fill the painful silence.

"I had forgotten all about it!" Brooke exclaimed with a smack to her forehead, "We were at the same party a few weeks back… Stan was there…and…so was Dainton."

"And you! Brooke, why didn't you say anything? Professor forbade you, too, you know…"

"I didn't drink anything so shush!" she hissed angrily with a meaningful glance at the kitchen. "Let's talk about this in your room. Come on."

Brooke told me the whole story about the party. Betty arrived drunk. Dainton had gotten angry, Betty was shouting after him. She told me about how she had played strip poker with a bunch of people she didn't know from the basketball team. _Our_ Betty.

"So I guess she and Stan are dating again and have been for a while." Brooke finished her story. "But I don't know how I could've just forgotten everything."

 **Buttercup  
** …But I knew how, actually. Over the last couple of weeks, every thought and even every dream had been revolving around Liam Berger. Whether if they were angry or happy thoughts about him I couldn't really distinguish. Lately, I had even caught myself picturing what it would have been like to date him. The two of us sitting by the lake Becca liked so much. Us walking through the town with our hands entwined with one another or even sitting at a café eating ice cream together. Every time a thought like that popped up I shook my head and thought: _he doesn't feel the same and he never will. And by the way, BRAIN, I don't feel that way,_ either _!_ And that made me stop thinking about him. Every time. _Every_ time.

On the same morning as the Christmas ball, I woke up with sand in my eyes. Or, what it felt like anyways. I don't think I had ever been this tired in my entire life. If I thought that waking up exhausted was bad, after I stretched for a bit I had been attacked by Professor. He was yelling something about "never being able to do better than a cleaning lady as a career if I didn't wake up that exact moment" or whatever. Blah, blah, blah but I had never been _this_ tired, even after a long night of partying.

The entire night I had woken up, fallen asleep, woken up, and fallen asleep again. Liam had been in – no, _filled_ – every dream and I couldn't let go of any thoughts of him either. This was going to be a _great_ day.

A couple of times during those last few weeks, while Becca and I admittedly _had_ been suspected Betty's secret relationship, I had run into Liam in the mall or other places. Every time he would give me that-that _goddamn_ crooked jeer that just-just spread all over his _goddamn_ arrogant face, and he – that _cocky_ _bastard_ – would _eye_ me from head to toe! And every _goddamn_ time he _seemed_ to be alone but then-THEN! From out of nowhere, a girl would come running towards him and take his _goddamn_ sexy hand – gah! And here's the hooker, they were _different_ girls. _Each_ and _every_ time. And _every time_ I would feel as if I was sinking into the floor. Since the party three weeks ago, he hadn't even spoken to me, only flashing me that _goddamn_ smile that I hated so _goddamn much_.

Even though my eyes were virtually glued shut, I got up and got dressed. I chose a pair of cheap black jeans that I had gotten on sale, which I had unfortunately made holes in. But, you know, I put together again with safety pins (yeah, I know. I was so punk rock…). I found a big forest green hoodie laying around and I threw it on.

While I tried to fix my short, messy hair something hit me. All of my thoughts had revolved Liam so much I had forgotten all about getting a date for the ball tonight. I shrugged my shoulders (I wasn't even planning on going) and put my light green knitted beanie on. My hair wasn't going to cooperate today.

 **Bubbles**  
"Breakfast, Becca?" Professor asked the second I entered the kitchen the morning after Betty had revealed her big secret.

"Yes, please." I smiled as I headed to the counters to make myself a sandwich. Then it hit me. Had Professor just asked me something?

I glanced at him subtly. He was behind me cooking bacon and eggs by the stove. Did he really just ask me if I wanted breakfast, as in: he was going to cook for me? He did know I was vegan, right? I turned around and saw Brooke sitting by the table probably waiting for her breakfast. I turned to the clock above the kitchen door. It showed ten past six.

"Why are you up so early?" I asked them both.

"I wanted to make breakfast for my daughters this morning. Is there a problem with that?" he gave me a teasing smile.

"No…of course not."

"Good. You don't have to make your own sandwiches today either, Becca."

"And you?" I asked turned to Brooke. "Why are you up?"

"Professor doesn't have to wake me up _every_ morning. Sometimes, I actually take on some responsibility. Shocker."

Despite her callous tone, I realized that she did this to make it easier for Professor. He seemed so sad last night and now he seemed to be in a really good mood again.

/Like always, my sisters and I split up right outside the doors of the school.

"Bye." Said Betty and began walking towards the science classrooms by the lockers on the other side of the building.

"Bye." Said Brooke, turning at the stairs and went to the back where the football field was.

"Bye, bye." I said and began walking to the couches at the end of the hall where my friends were waiting for me. They always got the best seats as they took the early bus to school every morning.

I was just about to raise my hand to greet Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica, and Henrietta when something – or someone – suddenly pushed me into the lockers to my left. When I turned to see who it was I saw Luke Berger, Leo's red-eyed brother, standing and laughing with two of his friends from the football team. How did I miss him?

"What was that for?" I asked angrily. "Have you already forgotten who I am?"

"I know you're not allowed to use your powers on school properties if it isn't absolutely necessary." Said Luke with a sneer. "And that would be if, let's say, a giant monster started to rampage or if a fire broke loose."

"What's up?" asked Jessica pensively and put her hand on my shoulder to show her support. Mathilda, Ginger, and Henrietta were right behind her.

"Nothing. We just wanted the couches," Luke said arrogantly and began heading towards the couches where my friends had recently been.

"Don't mind them…" said Mathilda and took my hand. "Let's talk to a teacher. Come on, they're still in the staff room."

"But why? Why now?" I asked partly to myself.

Why did he have to behave like this _now_? Luke had never even tried to talk to me. Neither a comment nor a jeer. Since the first day of school, he hadn't even looked at me funny. Other than that ski trip, of course. It's us who has the powers, not them! Why would he act so mean and arrogant now?

 **Blossom  
** Dainton was already standing with our friends by the science classrooms. They seemed to discuss something really funny and laughed. When they all saw me they stopped laughing and became strangely quiet.

"Hi, what's so funny?" I asked them nervously. I wasn't in the mood for fighting with Dainton so I didn't even look at him.

"Well…" Leo, who had the science class with me, said. "Malcolm just told us about…"

"What are you doing here?" Dainton said with a marked coldness in his voice.

"I'm…having a class here in five minutes."

The silence was so thick it felt like you could choke on it. Why was he standing here every morning when he didn't even have the same classes as us? He wasn't even a junior like us, he was a senior! These were _my_ friends!

"No, I mean, what are you doing _here_ , with _us_? Can't you go and stand over there until the bell rings?" Dainton pointed to the end of the hall where I came from.

"Dainton, let her stay." Malcolm pleaded. He didn't seem to be in the mood for a fight either. But Dainton kept staring at me coldly.

"Come on, Betty, it looks like a certain person doesn't know how to grow up properly." Said Mindy while she took my hand and led me through the hallway. Leo followed, proving his loyalty to his girlfriend's sister.

I felt Dainton's freezing eyes follow us until we stopped behind the corner in the next corridor.

"It doesn't look like he's really over you yet," Leo mumbled.

"But that doesn't mean he can behave like this!" I said angrily.

"We know, but he feels exposed right now." Said Mindy. "Let him play boss for a little while, he'll get tired of it soon enough if you don't care about it. The guys and I are on your side. Right, Leo?" Leo nodded. "But you know how we are, we won't cut anybody out."

"But I don't get it!" I nearly shouted. "Why is he like this? I thought maybe we could try to become friends or at least be friendly to one another even though he cheated on me! That's unforgivable, but I wanted to try!"

Actually, every time I had waited outside of the science classrooms Dainton had been there and said something to make me angry. No one had ever said anything about it because maybe they would have made it worse. The war waging between Dainton and I made it awkward for our friends and we would've just felt betrayed if one party backed the other.

"I know, but…" tried Mindy tiredly.

"And where is his perfect, sexy Olivia, huh?" I shouted as I leaned to my side so that my voice could be heard through the hall where Dainton stood. "If she doesn't know how to make him get over me then nothing can! It wasn't that hard before!"

"Betty, please…" Mindy pleaded and took my face between her hands so that we looked straight into each other's eyes. "You know Olivia's type. He didn't really want her and…"

"So why…" I said with an angry voice and pushed her hands away from my face.

"Listen! Listen… He didn't actually want her. It was by an impulse he kissed her and he had realized what he had done too late. She had been like a tail on him after you broke up but he isn't at all interested in her. You're the only one for him. I'm sorry I'm the one telling you this instead of him because he told this to me in confidence and now he knows that you're dating someone else…"

"You're on his side!"

"No!"

"How can he know about Stan? How do you know?" I asked her and felt a bit calmer but it wasn't because of her knowledge about Stan that calmed me down but rather the amazement that that knowledge was privy to other people.

"Come on…" said Mindy with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, yeah… the party."

"Yeah, we've heard a lot about that," Mindy said kind of judgingly.

"Loads of what he's been telling you…"

"…are lies, yes…" Mindy looked tired. "I have other sources, too, you know."

"Come on, the school bell is ringing, time to go…" said Leo with an unsure glance at me.

 **Buttercup**  
The longer I watched the clock in math's class, the slower the time seemed to go. We almost never finished early on Fridays, but today was an exception due to the Yule ball later tonight. This day, Liam didn't skip class to play gangster. He sat a few rows behind me to keep up with his education, I thought. Wishful thinking. I sat, as usual, next to Betty who did her work with great diligence. Luke, stupid Liam's even dumber brother, always skipped math and Leo sat next to Becca in front of me and Betty. Leo had somehow managed to switch his classes around so that he had math with us and he seemed to throw angry glances towards the door and the windows all the time; as if he was waiting for someone… Or maybe he was just longing to go home as much as I did.

When I leaned over my notebook again to try and figure out some of the written exercises I was interrupted by someone whispering in the far back of the classroom. I looked back to see who the perpetrator was, but it was dead quiet when I did. Once more, I read the question and once more someone whispered behind me.

"Shut it!" Betty hissed with annoyance. She seemed to be in a bad mood today.

Third time's a charm, but when I was just about to write my solution down in my notebook a small folded note flew over my shoulder and landed in front of me.

"Who?" I irritated asked Robin who sat behind me next to the school's biggest nerd.

"Looks like you have a secret admirer." She whispered to me with a wink.

I unfolded the note where a few fast words were scrawled with crabbed handwriting:

 _Go to the ball with me?  
Meet me outside of the school's café  
half past seven tonight._

"Who is it from?" I asked Robin again.

"Please, girls, be quiet. This is a classroom, not a chat room." Said the teacher, Professor Jefferson.

"Sorry." Said I but quickly turned around again to Robin who just shrugged her shoulders.

"Brooke, will you..?" Jefferson repeated impatiently.

I tried again with the assignment but my focus was virtually gone.

 **Bubbles**  
All the angles were the same, amazing! In only thirty minutes, I was going to attend the Christmas ball! With Leo! But right now…I was admiring myself in the mirror. I wanted to see my hair, the makeup, and the dress. Before, I hadn't really liked myself that much…but for the moment, I looked really good and actually sort of beautiful. My blonde, long hair was up in a stylish bun of braids in the back of my head that Betty had helped me with. The dress I had bought at the Townsville mall district for eighty-five dollars was puffy, dark blue and just amazing. And my shoes, god, my shoes were beautiful baby blue high heels.

Stan Warrington, Betty's date, had made it so that we could take one of his parent's limousines to the ball… I know, it's a little too much, but it was going to be so fun!

I couldn't break away from my reflection. I felt like – and looked like – Cinderella. From a ragamuffin to a princess!

"Come on, Becca!" Professor shouted impatiently from downstairs. He wanted to tell us something before we went and I had just heard a limousine outside on the driveway.

 **Blossom  
** Today I had my nicest dark red dress. It was long, elegant and simple. My long, light red hair was up in an elegant, curly half-pony tail that flowed over my right shoulder and my high heels were a dirty pink. After I'd helped with Bubbles' hairdo, I spent over an hour and a half on my makeup.

"Okay, girls, I need to tell you something," Professor said when we all stood in the hall before leaving for the ball.

"What, Prof?" Brooke asked a bit guiltily.

"Well, I'm going to work at the Townsville laboratory with some of the scientists there. It's very important so I'm going to be gone the entire night."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"They've found a bacterium that could turn into a virus that could exterminate the whole city if we don't find a solution fast," Professor said seriously. "They asked me personally to help because… You know, they didn't know what to do and I created you girls and got that award…" he began talking faster. He took a deep breath. "So I need you to behave tonight and have a really nice evening. That means no alcohol or drugs. Brooke?"

"What?! Oh my God, I know that…"

"No, no, no, I didn't mean it that way! Sorry!" Professor put his hands in front of him to stop her from ranting. "I was going to ask you to turn the chicken over in the fridge so that the marinade covers both sides. I know you'll get tired of the party first and therefore will come home earlier than the others."

"Nice save," I whispered teasingly.

"Oh, okay, yeah sure. I can do that." Said Brooke.

"When are you coming back home?" Becca asked worriedly.

"Tomorrow morning before you wake up. I promise." Professor assured her with a smile.

The doorbell rang and Professor, who was the closest, answered it. Leo was standing there together with Stan and behind them was our limousine with a private driver. Stan had a black smoking jacket with a black undershirt and a black tie, everything was black, and it really suited his pale face and dark hair and eyes. When he saw me he started smiling with his toothpaste white teeth.

"Where's your date?" Leo asked Brooke.

"I have none," Brooke said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Can I still ride with you?" she asked Stan.

"Of course!" Stan replied and gave me his arm to escort me to the car.

Leo gave his arm, too, but before Becca took it he reached for her waist and began twirling her around, dancing her towards the car. Becca laughed joyfully.

"Okay, have fun now!" Now it was Professor who looked worried.

"She'll behave." Said Brooke just as I waved back to Professor and headed to the car with Stan by my side. "Good night, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, good night. Have fun."

"Sure."

 **Buttercup**  
Since we arrived at the school at seven p.m., I had a whole thirty minutes to spare before finding out who my secret admirer was. Of course, I already had my suspicions; suspicions in shape of Liam. I don't know why I suspected him, but if you think closely, he had been chasing me this whole semester. From competing over who could get the most partners to beating a guy up who I had been with. He hasn't talked to me since he punched Jake, though… So maybe it wasn't him who had sent the note. But he was sitting behind me in math class and the note had come from behind me! Who else could it have been?

Me, Robin, Tilly, and the rest of the gang had all agreed to meet up at the football's field to pre-party before entering the ball, which had just started, so I headed towards the field after saying goodbye to my sisters, Stan, and Leo.

"Nice, Brooke!" Robin shouted.

"You too!" I shouted back, a little embarrassed as I got closer.

This night I had my coolest black and dark green dress on. It was skintight from the breast down to my hips, where stretchy, ballerina-like material came down to just above my knees. My black, short hair was flattened and sprayed in a kind of nice 'do. I had tried to make myself look as hot as possible for my date even though I hated to wear dresses and makeup. This was going to be a wild night… 

*190 centimeters (1, 90 meters) = 6 feet 3 inches

Please leave a comment and thanks for reading! 3


	8. Chapter 7 - The Yule Ball (edited)

Hi, again! **Pollie T** just gave me an excellent suggestion! She/he said that I should use double spaces in my text and I totally agree. I'm so sorry because I had no idea it was so painful for you all to read! I actually went into my chapters like a visitor go into them and when you can't highlight the text it is really annoying to read! So thank you, Pollie T, for the comment and advice. I will always want to get better if I can : )

And as always a big thank you to the editor of this chapter **Asuki-sama**!

 **(This is an editor's note or, E/N. Please note that this was put in by me, the editor, and me only. Limberj did not set me up to do this so you fools better stow that thought away immediately. And I mean that in the best possible way :D): Hello, friends! This is my dear Limberj's editor here! I just want to say…review! Comment! People, this lady is putting in a massive amount of effort here! I can say that for certain after only a few months or so becoming her editor. Heck, she contacted someone across the flipping globe for y'all! (I am allowed to use 'y'all'; I'm a Southerner, after all ;).) I'm sorry to say that I'm the slowest editor on the face of planet Earth (surely Mars has some slower organisms…no?) but she endures it with a smile! Heck, sometimes I think she actually likes me! XD But in all seriousness, please, pay a lady that pours this much sweat and blood to translate and write her novel into ANOTHER FRICKING LANGUAGE some attention. She certainly deserves it.**

 **Editor, out.**

 **~Asuki-sama**

 **The Yule Ball**

 **Bubbles**  
Leo helped me out the limousine, walked up the stairs, and just before we put a single foot inside the entrance door, he gave me a mischievous smile and we continued the dance all the way into the assembly.

 **Blossom**  
Stan sat me down at a table near the entrance to the assembly. The music wasn't as loud there and he said that he wanted to talk to me while having a drink before we danced. When he walked away to get our drinks, I saw Becca and Leo dancing, swirling and spinning into the room. The sight of them made me laugh. Not that they looked stupid… Okay, they did, but I was happy for them – not many people find their absolute soulmate here on this planet…sigh.

 **Buttercup**  
There were only ten minutes left before I would meet him. I mean, I already had, but it was going to be such a relief to stop this game. Finally, he would show his real feelings for me instead of those one-night stands we've had.

I saw Liam stand up from a bench about *ten meters from where I sat at the football field's grandstand. He had on a really cute outfit. Underneath his iconic jacket with the camouflage patterns, he wore a white shirt under a dark gray school pullover. One side of the pullover was tucked into his tight, black jeans while the other side was hanging loose, and on his feet, he had gray basketball shoes. Converse, of course. His black hair was up in a man bun in the back of his head instead of the usual Mohawk.

He drank the rest of his beer, looked at me, and smiled and bowing courteously. Then he headed alone towards the school. Now all he had to do was to wait for me outside the school's café.

I took a large sip of my beer and smiled to myself.

 **Bubbles**  
It couldn't have been more obvious that Leo and I were the ones having the most fun on the dance floor. We laughed nonstop while other couples looked nervous and awkward. We wanted to lighten the mood up, make these people dance – it's a ball, people!

Ginger entered the dance floor, and by her side was Clyde. It worked, he had asked her to go with him. Did he wait for the last minute to ask or did Ginger keep it a secret?

 **Blossom**  
After half an hour, Stan and I danced like crazy on the dance floor. It looked funny and fun, what Becca and Leo were doing, to not just dance _a_ dance, but to just _dance_ – any way you wanted to. Some of the people that had attached themselves to the tables and chairs scattered along the walls, came to the middle of the room and tentatively started dancing, too. Becca and Leo really had set the mood for everybody.

All of a sudden my heel broke and I fell right into Stan's arms. Just like in a movie, I shyly looked up at him with an apologetic smile as he started leaning down to kiss me. But suddenly, I glanced towards the entry out of pure instinct and, of course, I spotted Dainton…with Olivia. So either he was lying to Mindy or Mindy was lying to me! She had said that he didn't want to be with Olivia. So why were they together at the ball?

It was like the room suddenly got colder. We just stood and stared at each other. Olivia tried to get his attention by tickling him, but he wasn't ticklish – I knew that. Stan gently tugged at my hand and said something about going for a walk, but I didn't really hear him.

I felt something sharp crawl its way up my throat. Why was Dainton so handsome today? Suddenly memories started popping up that I hadn't been thinking about for weeks. The first time we had met. Our first kiss. The times we had laughed so much that we cried. Our secret moments I had never told anyone – not even Mindy.

Dainton looked defiant, but when he saw my face, right into my eyes, he looked sincerely sad. I couldn't bear seeing him like that. All the memories from the fountain started popping up and broke my heart all over again.

He took a few steps forward but stopped. I took a few steps but stopped as well. Olivia and Stan gave up and each sat down on a chair, each on the opposite side of the room.

Without thinking, I started mechanically walking again. My small, teetering, hesitant steps soon grew into long strides and by the time I realized what I was doing, I was nearly running to him. He opened his arms and caught me in an embrace. I almost sobbed at the familiar weight of his arms around me.

"How _dare_ you go with her!?" I shouted as I took a step back and gave him a resounding slap in the face that echoed throughout the entire assembly regardless of the loud music. Everybody stopped dancing and began staring at us instead.

I felt angry tears welling in my eyes and jumped at him, hugging his neck and he caught me again. We started kissing; kissing through the tears, the pain, kissing like nothing in the whole world could ever stop us.

"Please, forgive me." he murmured against my lips when we finally just stood and held each other, forehead to forehead.

"I love you."

"I love you, too! And I will never do anything to hurt you ever again." He promised. Oh God, please hold onto that promise this time. _Please_.

 **Buttercup**  
I went up the stairs to school and walked through the hall, passing the assembly hall where everyone seemed to have a disease of some sort, what was wrong with their dance moves? When I took a right and spotted the café, I saw him, just standing there leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

Liam. What a surprise.

"I wasn't sure you were going to come." He said with his usual sneer, turning his body towards me.

"Just as I susp…" I was cut off by someone. A person Liam had been looking at when I thought he was looking at me – it was actually like he hadn't even seen me, now that I thought about it.

"Hi, Liam!" it was Robin who came running from behind me. "Brooke, hi, are you having fun?"

"Robin?" my heart sank to my feet. This was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

"Duh, dummy, who else could I be? Oh, yeah, Brooke, I almost forgot. Sean here has been asking for you."

As if Liam pulled him out of thin air, Sean, the most unpopular, invisible, and geekiest guy in school, stood in front of me without even looking at me. He had brown, greasy hair in a bob cut, big, thick glasses that didn't fit his stupid face, with pants all the way up to his armpits and big, clumsy military boots. His dumb face was twisted up anxiously in a way that made me want to punch him.

"So nice you could make it, Brooke…" Sean said nervously, face turning red as he looked down at his clown feet. "You wanna go have a drink with me?"

"Y'all kids do that," smirked Liam, who really seemed to enjoy every second of this, "We're gonna take something to drink, as well. Right, Robin?" Robin giggled lightly. Some _friend_.

All I wanted to do was to sink through the floor. My face felt hot and I bet it was ten times darker than Sean's. I emitted a shriek of disgust, shaking my arms erratically and hurried away from the scene, flew out to the school grounds and kicked off the ground before anyone could even catch a glimpse that it was I who was escaping the school only thirty minutes after the ball had started – stupid, typical Brooke Utonium…

 **Bubbles**  
How unlikely it may sound, Betty and Dainton was now a couple again. They came with their dates and seemed happy with their choices, but now they were going home with someone else. But I couldn't disfavor Betty, she had actually been really sad without Dainton – and, truly, even though she was dating Stan for a while, it didn't quite seem like she was dating anyone at all. She was happier this way.

Luke and Liam, Leo's brothers, arrived at the assembly and acted like pigs, like usual. They stuffed their faces with snacks from the bowls and the all-you-can-eat-buffet and spilled half of it on the floor. They poured glass after glass into their mouths. They were even disgusting enough to screw their mouths into small little openings and use cups as big as garbage cans.

Okay, even pigs were cleaner.

"What are they doing?" Leo groaned.

"They're not exactly being the perfect examples of upstanding citizens," I said with my arms crossed, still watching them.

"I haven't talked to Luke about what he did to you earlier today, by the way…"

"No, let it be. He got suspended from the football team for a month, remember?"

But Leo had already started walking towards his brothers with large strides. I followed him. "Luke, hey, Luke!" Leo said and pushed Luke on his back and made him drop his mug on the floor.

Luke turned around to see who it was and sneered. "Well isn't it little Miss perfect?" his hair looked strangely flat on his head when he didn't wear his cap.

Leo was about a head taller than him (Luke wasn't much taller than me, but I was the tallest one of my sisters) but Leo was only a little more than a decimeter* shorter than the basketball player Liam, who was standing behind Luke, laughing quietly.

"We need to talk about what you did to my girlfriend earlier today." Said Leo.

"Just stop…" I mumbled in vain.

"Okay, let's, Leo," Luke said as he laughed and looked from me to Leo.

"Well, I'm off. My mission is completed." Liam said, looking bored again while glancing at Sean, a very odd boy from our class, who came into the assembly hall alone.

"Later." Said Luke, partially enthusiastic yet something was strange about his farewell to his brother. Liam left the room promptly and Luke faced back to us again.

"Can you just tell me why…?" Leo began angrily; I had never seen him this angry before.

"Hey, Leo-boy…" Luke interrupted, slinging his left arm over Leo's shoulders and turned him away from me. "I just wanted to tease her a little, nothing personal. She _is_ a…"

"You better not finish that sentence!" Leo warned him as he pushed his arm away. "If you ever touch her again you'll answer to me!"

"And what are you going to do? I'm the Running Back in the football's team and much stronger than you despite happening to get the short end of the genetic stick, at least, referring to height... But that's an argument for another day. Look at you, Stick; you're just skin and bones. Whatever you…"

"You're going to call me names?" said Leo with a laugh. He was acting really differently when he was angry. It scared me. "I can come up with thousands of names to call _you_ , Tiny."

Luke began chewing the inside of his cheek and his red eyes seemed to get darker.

"Come on, Leo, let's go…" I whispered and started pulling his arm, but he didn't budge.

"I'm warning you, Luke." Leo snarled.

"What?" Luke suddenly laughed and held his hand out to me. "What are you going to do?"

Shamelessly he pushed me on my shoulder, not hard, but enough to annoy me.

"Don't touch me!" I said and smacked his hand faster than the lightning.

"Wow, that was fast!" Luke said, with mock awe. "And it's just as I suspected, you let the girl take the fight for you…"

With a quick movement, so quick even I almost missed it, Leo punched Luke right on his cheekbone.

"Leo!" I shouted with my hands over my mouth.

"I warned you!"

Luke pressed hard over his injured half of his face and just looked at Leo with a crazed look in his eyes. I shivered. That wasn't a look a sane person gave his brother. But before he could do anything hasty, Betty came and stood next to me with my friends gathered right behind her. Luke calmed down as he saw Betty, his eyes cooling slightly. He glanced back at Leo and that strange something flickered in his eyes again. He shot Leo a fleeting wrathful look and began heading towards the exit.

For some reason, no teacher had seen our little dispute.

"Why didn't they tend to their dates?" I asked when Leo and I sat down by a table. Betty was taking a walk with Dainton.

"None of them managed to get a date. You know how Luke is…" Leo flicked on his head towards the exit where Luke had disappeared only a few minutes earlier.

"Not even Liam? Isn't he the basketball team's Captain and, like, super popular?"

"He said nobody on this school was interesting enough for him. Luke also said something about him being in love, but then they started fighting after that so I didn't get any more information about that."

 **Blossom**  
I wanted to take Dainton to our special tree to talk about everything that had transpired. I had made sure to talk to Stan and make sure he would forgive me. He kindheartedly told me he that understood. And so now Dainton and I needed to talk about our future, how we needed to remember to tell each other stuff, how to remember to trust each other.

It was snowing now.

"I was actually jealous whenever you talked to Olivia," I said and was just about to sit down, but Dainton took his jacket off and put it on the cold ground so that I could sit on it.

"Thanks," I mumbled and smiled. He sat down next to me.

We talked for twenty minutes and Dainton felt that he needed to ease his conscience. "I should've listened to you. I just played right into her trap, just did exactly what she wanted." Said Dainton as he glanced towards the high windows where the Assembly hall was. There were lights and loud music pulsating even from here. "I guess that there's no point telling you what she said…"

"Yes!" I cleared my throat. "I would very much like to know," I said, more restrained.

"No… I really don't want to talk about...her…right now…"

"Come on, I can handle it." I insisted, putting my hand on his and began fondling it. "Remember that we need to talk about this."

"Okay… It was something like," he said as he shook his head "something like, ' _finally she's gone. Now we can be together, I've always wanted that'_ … Something like that. But I'm telling you, honestly, I was never, _ever_ , happy that you were gone and when I was finally with her…"

"I wasn't happy without you either," I said sincerely.

"And he… Stan..?" Dainton said like he had a hard time swallowing.

"He was only one of those…those…"

"Temp-guys?" Dainton smiled widely, almost cruelly – no, Dainton's not like that – almost sneering.

I nodded my head, shaking off my trepidation, and asked a question without thinking. "Did you and Olivia… I mean… Did you two ever have…?"

"No," Dainton said quickly, almost a bit obstinately. "She tried, but I put my foot down and said I wanted to wait until marriage, just like you."

"Good…" I sighed relieved. "It's starting to get cold… You wanna go somewhere else?"

"It's only nine PM; the ball isn't going to end until another three hours."

"Okay, then, you owe me a dance!"

 **Buttercup  
** Professor wasn't home. Before he let us go earlier, he told us he was going to work at the Townsville laboratory all night and help the scientists there find something or another; something science-y. I didn't care enough to remember. All I wanted to do was to crawl under my blankets and die.

The clock was only half past seven, it was both too early and too hard to try and sleep right now, so right after I closed the door, I pulled my dress off on the stairs and put on a pair of old jogging pants and a green t-shirt. I washed off my makeup and brushed out my hair. Then I just fell down into the bed.

I was in my bed with my face burrowed into the pillow, when the tears began streaming out of my eyes. Was I crying? Was I really crying over a guy? It had been years since I had last cried, but I felt so ashamed, so embarrassed… And really, really hurt. How could I _ever_ believe it was really Liam? How could I believe that he really liked me when he very clearly proved he didn't? He hated me, he just wanted to use me so he could tell Luke how he had destroyed me and laugh about it. I fell right into the trap Betty and I thought Becca was going to fall in months ago when we thought _Leo_ was the one trying to make one of us fall in love with him just so he could leave a Powerpuff girl broken-hearted.

I fell for it. _Me,_ not Becca. Never Becca.

While I laid there with the anguish of the century, I heard a knock on the door. Maybe it was Robin, even though I didn't think she had it in her to have a fucking _heart_ after what she did to me.

I walked slowly down the stairs and opened the door.

"Hi…"

I slammed the door shut and leaned against the door, slipping down onto the floor. "What do you want?" I asked, horrified, and tried to wipe my tears away with my shirt.

" _Haha, what do you think_?" I heard his voice outside say.

"How did you get here?"

" _Someone gave me a ride. Can you open the door, already?_ "

I looked at the clock sitting on the table in the hallway; it was five minutes past eight. I stood up and opened the door just a crack.

"Why are you here?" I whispered, shocked and not just a _little bit_ pissed.

"I see you've been crying." That fucking sneer again. That fucking _prick_ again.

"Did you come over here only to gloat!?" I shouted and slammed the door for the second time in his stupid face. I locked it and stomped up the stairs.

" _No, wait, Brooke!_ " Liam shouted.

It felt like my stomach had been turned inside out. How did a person find it in him to be so mean? How could you fool someone, break their heart, and then seek that someone just to toy with them further?

" _Brooke!_ " Liam was on the other side of the house and was now directly underneath my bedroom window.

Maybe one of Mojo Jojo's creations just naturally had it in them to be that evil.

" _Please, Brooke, listen!_ "

I opened the window with enough force to almost break the glass. "What? What do you want?" I shouted into the darkness. "I'm not on school properties anymore so I won't hesitate to bash your head in and then hide your body in some pyramid in Egypt and never think of you again!"

Crackling noises from the vine rack underneath my window made me look down, but before I could activate my night vision, Liam's head popped up in front of me. I shrieked and fell backward onto the floor.

Without even waiting for any indication of permission, Liam (like the ass he was) jumped into my bedroom and looked around as he pulled his military jacket off and dropped it on the floor by his feet. "So this is how you live?" he sat down in front of me. "Didn't you like my diversion?" he looked bored again. Fucking _ass_ , I shook with rage.

"Diversion?"

"I paid Sean five dollars to pretend to be your date for the ball."

"What do you mean 'pretend'?" I said breathlessly. Ugh, even _I_ hated the slight tremble of hope in my voice.

"It was I who wrote the note in math's today."

I glared at him, refusing to acknowledge my mistake. "So…you paid Sean to pretend to be my date? Was that your plan? To make me think I had a date and then realize I didn't? Or what is it you're trying to tell me?"

"He was going to pretend to be your date, yes, but the plan was that you would later see that _I_ was your real date. I actually thought you would understand that…"

"And Robin? Wasn't she with you?"

"Robin?" Liam laughed. "Rule number one in the Team Bro-book: 'Never date, lay, nor fantasize with/about any female of your bro's family'. Robin is Christopher Snyder's baby sister, didn't you know?"

"Of course! But I had no idea of that stupid rule book. Wait…didn't he graduate before you moved here?"

"Yes, but since he was the captain of the basketball team before me, it makes him TB."

"Do I even want to know what a 'TB' is?" I asked sarcastically.

"Team Bro."

"Oh, God…" I sighed. I'd never seen this wimpy side of him. "So…why did you pretend to be with Robin?"

"Just a little prom prank, everybody does that. I was going to tell you but you flew away so fast."

"I don't believe you," I said, firmly determined I would never trust a guy again, especially not _that_ bastard.

"You have to."

"Why?"

"How can you live without this?" he asked as he pointed at his body with both hands with a smile.

"You think you're something special, huh? You really think I wanna be one of your FBs?" I said, my voice growing louder as I spoke. "I've already told you I don't want you as an FB. I don't wanna sleep with you anymore. I never wanna talk to you again, see you – I mean, fuck!" My stupid tears started running again, my shaking rage breaking down. I didn't care anymore, I was going to tell him about my feelings and if he laughed I was going to just kill him. "Fuck, Liam! I actually thought that you wanted to go to the ball with me; I thought you felt what I did. For some reason… I started to like you, okay? That's never happened before. So go…just go and never come back. You _do_ have a conscience, don't you?"

For the first time, I managed to wipe his eternal sneer off his face. It wavered into an uneasy, almost scared expression. He just sat there with wide, jade eyes with eyebrows so low down over his eyes he looked like a sad puppy.

He blinked a few times and shook his head before he said, "When you say stuff like that it makes me feel like an idiot…"

"Good."

"I'm sorry." He said with his eyes shut. "I'm sorry I made you feel like this." He opened his eyes but didn't look at me when he continued. "You know my background… I'm so bad at this, showing feelings and what not. I thought it was fun, exciting, you know… _this_." He gesticulated wildly and the dumb bastard probably meant us being on and off, having risqué sex, and – and – "But to be honest I'm crazy about you. I can't stop thinking of you, okay? Since that time in the ball storage, I haven't…been able to…you know…with other girls…"

He said everything kind of fast but I still didn't want to believe him. Anyone could become a good actor when they're begging for more sex. I learned that the hard way.

"What about every time I've seen you with another girl, then? Don't they count? Every time you stumbled out of the toilets at school, from the studio, from the guy's locker room? The party! Tilly said you went behind the porch and…"

"All of that was fake. The toilets, studio and the locker room were especially easy, I just grabbed a random girl whenever I saw you coming, dragged her into the toilet and told her how to react when I opened the door. I told Tilly what to tell you, as well, to make you jealous and it worked. She said you looked like you wanted to punch her!"

I didn't acknowledge his smug tone. "How did you get her to listen to you?"

"I'm closer to her than you think. We're in the same group of people, you and me, you're just the only one having a beef with me!" he laughed a little when he said that. "It was Robin and Tilly, especially Robin, who told me how to get to you. They said that you never fell for anyone. Your friends know how you work, you know. You always get sick of guys, they said, and I know why. It's the reason why I get tired of all the girls in _my_ life. Do _you_ know why we're like this, why you don't ever stay with one?"

"Because they smother me," I mumbled. "But don't pretend you know me better than I do."

"Exactly. The rest of the guys said I should fuck with you, take a step back, be a gentleman and then ignore you again." He said and ignored the last thing I said.

"Wow, what a douche… Gentleman?"

"You know what I mean."

"Your plan still has a gap," I said, stood up and began walking to the door but paused and stared at him with my arms crossed. "How did the ball storage happen in the first place? You couldn't possibly have been talking to Robin and Tilly back then, too?"

"I hadn't, but I knew what I wanted. Since the last months of sophomore year, I've had this…emotion about you, if you didn't notice."

"Well, I didn't. As you might recall, we're sworn enemies."

"When we were children…" he rolled his eyes.

"You haven't done anything to prove me wrong. And by the way," I said triumphantly, "since you hadn't talked to Robin and Tilly back then, then explain why you were behaving like such an asshole back then, too. Or are you just naturally an asshole?"

"I didn't know, back then," Liam replied and looked down at his hands in his lap. "I didn't realize I actually liked you until I tried sleeping with another girl after I'd been with you the first time. It just didn't work. It was then when I knew there was something special about you." He sighed. "During summer break I made a plan with Luke. We were going to toy with y'all Powerpuffs. Of course, Leo said no straight away. Our plan was that I should make one of y'all to fall for me since Luke didn't even wanna touch any one of y'all. And since I already had that strange emotion about you, I said I was going to make you fall for me."

I just stared at him.

"But!" he said hastily. "After a while, when I noticed I couldn't be with another girl, I finally knew that I actually _wanted_ to be with you. Only, it was sorta hard for me since I didn't know _what_ I felt. Luke was only gonna get mad and call me a traitor if I told him and I still have _some_ dignity – I can't tell that pansy, Leo. Besides, I still harbored my old grudge against y'all and I'm really, really bad at showing my feelings. And – oh, God, I'm babbling. I mean –" he gave up and shrugged his shoulders.

We were quiet for a bit, but not for long. "Bullshit." I sighed.

"Please…"

"This is still wrong. You're created by Mojo Jojo and Him – I'm created by a good man."

"That good man of yours made Mojo, so some of that goodness must have slipped into us, too?" said Liam as triumphantly as I had a few minutes ago. He stood up. "Leo, he's good. A good guy. Luke, he's… He's Luke and may never change but... I beg you…"

"What?" I said, suddenly contentious.

"Give me one more chance. Haven't I already proven that I want to be with you? I'm thinking about you all the time. I left a party with twenty-something single, lonely girls just to chase after you and tell you how I feel. How often does that happen to me?"

"So…every time you've looked at me and sneered…was that you being nice?"

"Those were the times I couldn't contain myself." Said Liam without smiling.

"You're soft."

"What?"

"You're soft, Liam Berger. You seem so hard all the time, with those clothes, that hair, those muscles, the piercing and your attitude…but deep inside you're just a big wimp." It was my turn to sneer.

"Don't forget about my tattoo." He said, thoughtful.

"You're still a wimp."

"Show me how to be hard on the inside, then. Maybe we could visit the pyramids in Egypt?"

All of a sudden we were on my bed, wrestling, and honestly? We were only playing, we didn't do anything else than tickling and teasing each other. When we calmed down, he looked at me and kissed me. It was a sincere, unconditional kiss and afterward, we just talked about everything under the sun before falling asleep together in my bed.

*Ten meters= 32.9 feet  
*One decimeter= 3.9 inches


	9. Chapter 8 - The list (edited)

Thank you again, **Asuki-sama** , for editing this chapter for me!

 **The List**

 **Professor**  
"Thanks for the help, Professor Utonium! We couldn't have done it without you!"

"No problem!" I said with a smile.

Professor Charles Berger left the room and considerately closed the door. I was initially surprised when I found out that Leo's adoptive father worked as a scientist at the Townsville lab; no one had told me. The last I had heard of him, the day the boys were sent down to Texas to live with him and his wife, was that he was a doctor. However, we had gotten to know one other over the night. We became fast friends as the night grew longer and we opened up to each other. He told me that he'd left the San Antonio hospital only a few years after they had adopted the boys and continued his career as a scientist. Science was a lonely field; it was so pleasant having a man like Charles as a colleague.

During a short break, while we were having coffee together, he invited my family and me to eat dinner with his family on Christmas Eve. Apparently, they didn't have any other family than his wife's sister and she and her family was going to spend their Christmas in Hawaii. And since the girls and I only had my mother, she was invited as well.

I always invited my brother Eugene but I hadn't seen him since we were twenty-something. He always gave me excuse after excuse, year after year, that he was too busy to see us. So I severely doubted that he was going to show up this year either.

Before Charles left, he told me that there was a woman here who went by the name Irene. She had the keys to the lab and was the one who locked all the doors when everyone finished their business in the building so that all we had to do was just leave once we were done.

It was four AM, still dark outside, from what I could tell when I separated the window blinds a little to see. I was humming to myself as I gathered all of my stuff and put them in my briefcase. I whistled a little as I walked towards the door and grabbed the door knob.

"Going somewhere, are we?"

My whole body froze. Chills started running down my spine, with one of my hands still stuck on the door knob. That voice – those voices – could make any human faint from fear; any man, feel less of a man. But what struck fear in me most of all was his name…

Him.

When I turned around, I spotted the demon, or creature; tall and red, staring at me with a frightening glint in his eye and a wide, evil smile as he sat perched on one of the counters.

"Now you're mine."

Somewhat later – if it was an hour or a day, I didn't know – I woke up on a cold, stone floor with a gag stuffed in my mouth and ropes binding my wrists and ankles. My eyes felt thick and fuzzy. And most alarming of all, the world didn't sound right, ringing and banging within my skull. I didn't know where I was or what I was doing here. Sweat ran down my body even though the floor felt cool on my face; the room I was in was steaming hot.

"So you're finally awake? I was starting to wonder if you would ever wake up." I heard Him's voices tell me, echoing and clashing with the rest of the painful noise in my...mind…? I couldn't even confirm if I was going crazy or he was right in front of me.

When he spoke, it sounded like two different people talking together. The first was feminine and malevolent. The other was soprano and not of this world. I shivered at the melodious yet malicious harmony crescendo-ing in my mind.

"Now all we have to do is to wait for your little Powerpuff girls to come to your rescue so I can finally show them my newest invention: the Powerpuff Exterminator Six Thousand and One!"

I looked up to see a big, dangerous looking machine. I was hoping that it couldn't possibly harm _my_ little girls. However, I couldn't do anything to warn them either, I was completely helpless where I laid on the cool floor.

I saw that we were in a big, dark cave of some sort. It smelled wet and old.

"U' 'ill memver…!"

"I can't hear anything you're trying to say so it's better you just keep quiet while we wait for them! I think they've noticed at this point that you're not home!"

He started walking right past me. I had a sudden flash of inspiration. Maybe if I could trip him, I could try to escape... But as soon as I started kicking my legs, I knew it wouldn't work. I couldn't reach him.

"Try not to enrage me." Him laughed. "Finally, I will get rid of those Powerpuffs and the world will be mine!" He shouted as he held his arms out to no one in particular and laughed a stone cold laugh. "But first my assistant needs to lure them over here, and then the Powerpuff Exterminator Six Thousand and One will do whatever it does. And _then_ the world is mine." He said with a dark voice, turning towards me.

"'uh ish 'ur ashishdand?" I mumbled through the gag calmly.

"Who is my assistant? And you think I will just tell you?" Him laughed. "What I _can_ do is to tell you this: it's someone they really hate and would do anything to stop."

 **Blossom**  
 _Four days before Christmas._  
When I woke up the morning after the Yule ball I felt so euphoric; Dainton was back in my life and I could finally forgive him. It was only four days until Christmas and my bedroom was bathing in sunlight. It was ten AM and I felt it was time to rise and shine.

When I entered the kitchen five minutes later, Becca was already there and was reading _The Townsville Times_.

"Good morning!" I said luminously and stretched my whole body as I headed to the fridge.

"Good morning. Hey, Professor isn't home yet." Becca said, expressing very little interest as to the disappearance of our father. That and his sudden disappearance was so strange.

"He's not?" I asked worriedly when I turned around to face her.

"So you're worried too?" said Becca with round eyes when she popped up from behind the papers. Oh, that explained her lack of interest. The poor thing was trying hard not to unnecessarily worry her sister. Becca's so considerate, but I wanted to be alerted to things like this immediately. "He said he was going to come home early this morning. I've checked his bedroom, the lab in the basement, and at the Mayor's. Nobody in Townsville's laboratory had seen him since last night!"

"We need to tell Brooke… Now!"

 **Buttercup**  
I woke up around ten o'clock the morning after the Christmas party. Even though the ball itself wasn't that big of a success, I still felt that last night was one of the best nights of my life. Liam finally told me what he really felt about me, and those were the exact feelings I had for him. Even though I _might_ have tried to tell myself otherwise.

We fell asleep next to each other in my bed late last night, but long before Betty and Becca came home from the ball. I stretched, and as I did, the sunlight hit my face. I squinted my eyes. Jesus, back off a little, won't yah, sunshine?

Liam snored a little and turned away from me. I almost cackled when I saw his peacefully sleeping face. He was going to get a nasty surprise when he woke up and figured out where he fell asleep last night. And oh, it was so lucky Professor hadn't been into my room yet. We weren't allowed to have boys staying the night and especially not in our bedrooms.

I combed my hand through his hair and down his neck. Just as I was about to touch him a little more…hm, _intimately_ , I saw something red just under the neck of his t-shirt. I guess it was his tattoo. However, before I could take a closer look, he snored again and turned over to me. The surprise that shone on his face when he opened his eyes was _priceless_.

"Oh… yeah…" he tiredly mumbled and began stretching, his chest muscles silhouetted on his white tee.

The butterflies in my stomach started fluttering around. I had never noticed how awfully cute Liam is. Sure, I've always thought he was hot and handsome in a way, but not cute, and especially not now when he's freshly awake, with bedhead and all.

"Good morning," I whispered back.

He stretched his body again proudly. "So… what do you say about a little morning coitus?"

I giggled. "Gross. They'll find out you're here."

"Because of you, Miss Moany," Liam said teasingly and pulled my face towards his to kiss me.

"Brooke!" Betty swooshed up the stairs.

"Hide!" I whispered, panicked, and threw the blanket over Liam's head just before Betty stormed into my bedroom.

"Professor is gone! We need to find him!"

 **Blossom**  
Brooke, Becca and I flew all over Townsville, all over Citiesville, Farmsville, Forestville, all over The United States of America, desperately searching for Professor. We knocked on people's doors, got help from police forces all over the country… Professor's disappearance was the front-page news in all the papers around the world and all people talked about on both radio and TV.

Charles Berger told us that the last he'd said to Professor was that he could just go home because a woman who worked there was going to lock everything up, a building chalk full of security, but nobody had seen him after Charles had gone. The security tapes hadn't even intercepted what happened to him… They only showed our dad stand still for a few minutes, opening the door and walking out of the building, but when they switched from one camera to another he was just…gone…

I helped my crying sister into our house at eleven PM. We needed to take a break to rest and eat. Brooke sat down in Professor's favorite chair and started spinning his tobacco pipe between her fingers and I put Becca down in one of the couches. She lay down and rolled over to her side to face the back of the couch, used one of his lab coats as a blanket and let out a soft sob.

I went into the kitchen to make dinner, something easy so we could just eat and then continue the search.

"He would never leave us this long without calling us and explain…" Brooke mumbled when I entered the living room with three plates of spaghetti and meatballs, vegetarian for Becca.

"There isn't any other conclusion than that he is… that he is… is…" Becca couldn't finish her sentence before breaking down in tears again.

"He is not dead," I said, irritated. How could she think something like that?

"How can you be so sure?" said Brooke.

"There was no proof of a fight in the lab so therefore any evidence points to…"

"There's no proof of him being alive, either!"

"Excellent, Brooke! That's absolutely fantastic!" I shouted as I slammed the tray with the three plates on the coffee table. Spaghetti, meatballs and tomato sauce splashed all around us. "Then we can just end the search for him now and move on with our lives! Just ignoring the fact that-"

"Stop!" Becca shouted and sat up on the couch.

We all looked at each other, Brooke a little crotchety at me and I even angrier at her. I let out a sigh and sat down on the floor with my face buried in my palms. I refused to believe that Professor was…didn't live.

"I have an idea!" Brooke said suddenly and stood up from the chair with her hand raised.

"What?" Becca and I exclaimed together.

"We've all agreed upon him being kidnapped, right?"

"Abducted…" I mumbled.

"Yeah, sure…" Brooke continued and gave me a fixed glance. "To figure out who the villain is, all we have to do is to just find him or her. As simple as that!"

"Isn't that what we've tried to do all day, already?" Becca said angrily with her face in the coat.

"Yeah, but I mean that we should search for the villain, but the opposite to that."

"Okay, Riddler, just cut to the chase. What are you even talking about?" I said, both tired and annoyed as all hell.

"Just listen, okay? Let's check on the criminals who _can't_ have a finger in the game, and when it's only one left – one who we haven't checked on yet – then we know who it is!"

"And what if it's not one of the old ones?" I asked her.

"Yeah… What if it's someone new?" said Becca.

Brooke thought for a bit. "Nah, I'm sure it's like Mojo or something."

"So what are we going to do?" Becca asked.

"First we check who's in Townsville's prison.

 **Bubbles**  
Before we flew over to the Townsville prison, we made a list of all the ordinary villains to check off once when we had interrogated them. Mojo Jojo was, of course, the first name on the list.

When we arrived at the prison, a guard welcomed us and showed us the way to Mojo's cell. He was sitting on the floor and just stared at the wall to the left when we entered. Well, at least he was locked up.

"Mojo, we just wanted to ask you a few questions," said Betty who was closest to the chimp.

When he turned to see who was talking, all three of us gasped.

He wasn't what he used to be.

Nine long years in prison had made his face wrinkly, worn, and loose. His shaggy black fur had splashes of gray and white in it and his hands were thin and bony. His red eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he looked at us with a mix of disappointment and fear.

"You…" he said with his raspy, dark, deep voice. "What do _you_ want?"

"Professor is gone and we just wanted to know if-" Betty began bravely.

"I don't have anything to do with that! Don't you see I'm just an ape in a cage? Trapped… Lonely…"

"And you don't know anyone who can have anything to do with it?" Brooke snarled.

"I know nothing!" he said a bit louder. "First you take my boys, whom I haven't seen in eleven years, and now you accuse me of a crime I haven't committed…"

"We're not accusing you, but if you know anything we would be so very grateful if you would tell us." I said in a little nicer tone than the others did.

"First my boys…" he just mumbled and turned his back to us.

"Oh, well. Next on the list is the Gangreen Gang." Betty said to the guard as she checked Mojo off the list.

The guard escorted us to another, bigger cell where the Gangreen Gang was. They, as well, had gotten older through the years, but they weren't as old and worn out as Mojo Jojo. They'd been in prison for only two years and were much younger than the chimp.

"Well, well, well, isn't it the world's own little sweethearts?" said Ace, the leader of the gang. His long, thin face was even thinner than before and the pointy chin was much pointier. His long, black hair was hanging in wisps, framing his thin, angular face. "And hello, Buttercup, long time no see."

His greeting reminded me of the time Brooke had a crush on the leader of the Gangreen Gang. I looked at her. She gave Ace a grossed-out look. She seemed to be thinking in a similar manner as me. "Yeah, well, whaddya know?" Brooke mumbled.

"Are you eighteen yet, baby?" Ace tried to smooth-talk Brooke who was just on her way to open her mouth to say something in fury.

Betty hurried to say: "Okay, Professor is gone, do you know anything-"

"I heard what you said to the old monkey and we don't know anything about any disappearance, neither." Ace said while playing with a toothpick with his tongue. "So you can just scuttle along."

Grabber, who looked the same as always, as if he hadn't been affected at all by the prison life, stuck his tongue out at us and started clawing the concrete wall. It was only Snake and Lil' Arturo who didn't pay any attention to my sisters and me.

"Okay! If you know anything, _anything_ at all, you _have_ to tell us. Got it?" Brooke said furiously, standing really close to the bars to their cell.

"It's true, Miss Powerpuff Girl," said Big Billy, the biggest and, incredibly, the dumbest one of them all, "we don't know anything about your Professor."

Big Billy always told us the truth. He was actually nice and was only "evil" because he did what Ace told him to, so we let them be for now.

 **Buttercup**  
There was no use continuing to interrogate these rascals. They didn't even seem to _understand_ what was going on, let alone be the culprits of an extremely sophisticated kidnapping, whose person was still missing, so we moved on. The guard beckoned us to the next cell the while Betty checked the Gangreen Gang off the list. It was Sedusa. For a woman with hair made of snakes, she was famous for seducing and destroying hapless men. One time she even disguised herself as Miss Bellum and tried to seduce Professor. Maybe she had something to do with his disappearance this time?

"Sedusa," Betty thundered loudly when we stopped, "Let's get this over with. Did you overhear what we asked the Gangreen Gang and Mojo Jojo?"

The guard didn't follow us all the way to Sedusa's cell. Only female guards were allowed to handle her; she always escaped when a male guard got close her.

Sedusa didn't look wrinkly and old. In fact, she looked just as she did ten years ago, except for her long snake hair hanging passively on her head – she had been locked up the longest.

"I heard every word, and if you want to know my opinion you should maybe check on someone who's not in a prison cell," Sedusa said.

"We're not accusing anybody inside these walls, okay?" I said angrily. Already, I began getting really annoyed.

"What Brooke _wanted_ to say was that if you know anything at all you would tell us, right?" said Betty.

"I don't know anything, either. But I know that Princess was released a couple of days ago. Hm, here's a thought, maybe you'd want to talk to _her_?"

"Did she say anything about wanting to destroy us?" Becca asked.

"No, but she was a real nail in the eye for the rest of us here – little Miss Silver Spoon." Sedusa shivered and turned the page in her magazine. "Go see her. Maybe she'll know what happened to your precious Professor Utonium."

Betty checked Sedusa off of the list and we flew to the grandest and nicest house in all of Townsville. I rang the doorbell and a butler answered it.

"Hi, we're looking for Princess," Betty replied promptly.

The butler was a large man, wearing a snazzy black suit and hat. He closed the door in our faces.

"Oh, that big son of a-" I was interrupted by the door opening – right as I was about to bash it in.

"Hello, girls!" said Princess like she was expecting us. She stood in the doorway with a wide smile.

Her hair was as curly and red as it's always been. She wore a huge, gigantic, and _repugnantly_ (nice, I learned that one from Betty. Having a smart sister wasn't always a bad thing) pink dress and a tiara on her head. She hadn't changed at all since we were kids, just for the little fact that… _we were eleven years older_! Seriously, unless I didn't know it for a fact, I would've _never_ pegged her as the same age as Betty, Becca and me.

"Come in, come in. A cup of tea, girls?" she showed us into a grand hall with a high ceiling – pompous assholes – where a very wide staircase led to the floor above us.

After the hall, she showed us into a family room that was, as much as I hate to admit it, beautifully furnished. With white and clean couches and chairs and soft silk curtains gaudily hanging in front of every tall window, the place gave off the vibe of modern pomp. I sniffed disdainfully. That was a mistake. A low, sweet scent wafted through the air. I snuck one more look around and saw where the smell came from. Beautifully delicate white, pink and baby blue flowers grew tall in golden pots, caressing the wall as they interwove together. It was all too pretty for a selfish, self-serving girl like Princess. Yet, as I said that, I noticed more and more about the incredible room. A big open fireplace stood in the far back of the big room and a gorgeous chandelier hung from the ceiling so low, you could almost touch it.

"Sit down, make yourselves at home," Princess said kindly, snapping me out of my reverie. Her house was pretty, her tone was trusting, but I didn't let myself get fooled by her for a second. I suspected a cat in her sack.

 **Blossom**  
"Marcus! Marcus, my friend. Would you please give these three enchanting girls a cup of tea, already? And maybe some pastries while we're at it!" Princess said to the butler (whose name apparently was Marcus) and reclined in her high-backed chintz chair. She gave him a quick wink, but I didn't know if it garnered suspicion or if she just wanted to be nice to him.

Brooke, Becca and I sat down opposite to Princess in a couch so wide five more people could fit next to us. We, however, still hadn't said a word since she invited us in.

"So, why are you here, girls?" Princess asked with a big smile on her face.

"We were just going to ask you if you knew anything about Professor's disappearance," I said carefully to keep the conversation low-key. The last thing we needed on our hands was a time-wasting disagreement.

The first time we met Princess was in Pokey Oaks kindergarten and she got so fascinated by my sisters and me, she wanted to become a Powerpuff girl herself. We told her it wasn't possible as she didn't have any super powers, so after a tremendous amount of engineering failures (her father paid for machines that could only slightly replicate our powers, hardly good enough) they came in contact with one of our biggest enemies: Mojo Jojo. He invented a machine that could replicate our powers almost perfectly and turned her into a villain to fight me and my sisters but we defeated Princess and put her in jail.

"Professor's disappearance? Yeah, I've heard of that a lot today and no, I'm really sorry but I have no idea who took him away from you."

Brooke let out a sigh on my right and Becca let out a dry sob on my left. "Are you really sure? We've been searching and searching all over the place and we really can't figure out what's happened to him." I continued, still cautious but more pleading.

"Yeah, I'm really sure." Said Princess with a sad expression on her face. "Oh! Here are the tea and the pastries! Can I offer some to you before you leave? There's a long night before you, you must be starving."

Marcus the butler came with a tray with the teapot and pastries. He walked by the grandfather clock, snapping my attention. It read twelve thirty AM. I didn't realize how late it was and how rude of us it was to visit princess at this time… But she did invite us in, kind girl… Wait.

Marcus put the tray on the coffee table between Princess and us and began pouring tea into the small cups. She invited us in. At twelve thirty at night.

"Thanks." Becca sobbed when she received her cup and a brownie ("Chocolate helps when you're sad." Princess had said kindly). Brooke and I received the same. We had been received with a kindness that Princess hadn't even afforded her own parents only a decade ago…

"Go on, drink," Princess said while nodding her head with big, shiny eyes. "I can only imagine how you feel. It's awful to lose a parent." She had been taking acting classes right before her arrest…

She smiled wider as Becca shakily raised her cup towards her lips. I saw an elusive evil gaze in her eyes just before-

"Stop! Don't drink that Becca!" I shouted and knocked the cup out of her hands. The cup fell down on the floor with a crash so tea splashed over the wall.

"What's going on?" Princess stood up and looked furious, but she tried to act like she was confused.

"What have you spiked the tea with?" I asked angrily.

"My dear Betty, how can you think something like that about me? It's been _years_ since we've fought and-"

During the short time Princess spoke, Brooke had flown into the kitchen and came back after just a few seconds. "And what is this?" she asked, she held in her hands a small flask with the label 'Antidote X' written on it.

My sisters and I stood next to each other and stared at her with either hands on our hips or arms crossed.

"H-hey, girls… You don't really believe that I… It was Marcus! It was his idea, I swear!"

 **Buttercup**  
Marcus the butler turned out to be a really nice guy. He showed us all the secret rooms and tunnels in the big manor to prove that Professor wasn't there. He waved to us when we left half an hour later.

Right after we dropped Princess off at the prison again ("I was just released! Oh, you stupid Powerpuff girls! You just wait!" Princess had furiously shouted as we flew with her) and checked her off the list we flew home again to rest. The next villain wouldn't approve of an interview with us this late at night. Not that I cared. I was willing to send the next villain that got in my way ten feet above the atmosphere.

We were home at ten past one at night. Again. Time never rests for the almighty, as they say, and we all fell asleep in the living room. I slept in Professor's favorite chair, Betty on the big couch, and Becca in the small couch with Professor's lab coat as a pillow.

 **Professor**  
 _Three days before Christmas_  
After a few hours of restless sleep, I, once again, woke up on the cold stone floor with a gag in my mouth and ropes tied around my ankles and wrists. Why hadn't the girls found me yet? They had never taken this long to solve a mystery. Blossom was too intelligent and figured out things long before me, Buttercup had her aggressive nature – in a good way – that drove her to never stop until she was finished and never gave up when it came to saving someone, and Bubbles could get help from the animals, even the smallest insects.

I slowly turned my head to look where Him had gone, but I couldn't see him. My arm ached something awful because I had been laying on it for several hours, so I rolled over on my back. With a sting of shock, I found Him leaning over me with a wide smile.

"So you're awake now?" the demon said with his echoing voices. "Did you sleep well? The sun is shining and it's time to wake up!"

I groaned a little but felt too weak to make a sound.

"There, there. Relax, it's not long before the girls arrive. I've asked my assistant to go and fetch them now, so they'll soon be here with us."

He laughed for a bit and walked over to a big table where he had put out some food. I hadn't eaten anything in over twenty-four hours, but I wasn't about to beg him for food.

"Hungry?" Him said, wagging a sausage on a fork in my direction. "Ha!" he put the fork in his mouth and began chewing it with an evil glance towards me.

I tried everything to call the girls. Before, all I needed to do was shout, and they could hear me wherever we were on this planet, and come save me. But now it seemed impossible… I was too weak and gagged.

Like he read my mind Him said, "Don't even try to call them, Professor Utonium, they can't hear you because of these isolated walls. We're underground and you can't enter if you don't know how. My assistant knows, and he'll take them to me."

"Uh… uh…" I mumbled as I tried asking who his assistant was.

"Oh, soon you'll find out." Him said with a somewhat chirping voice.

After fifteen minutes, Him began pacing in the cave with a bitter expression. He mumbled over and over again something about his assistant should've been there thirty minutes ago.

"What a little coward… He shouldn't turn his back on me now, he can't afford to disappoint me now…" Him growled while still pacing. "Well, well. We can start without him. What I really needed you for anyway was for you to do something for me. Come, let's go to the lab."

 **Bubbles**  
The doorbell rang the morning after, making us jump.

"Oh, no, what time is it?" Betty asked panickedly.

"Quarter past eight." Said Brooke and appeared at the door in a fraction of a second.

I sat up and felt more tired than I had ever been. I hadn't slept much and had cried almost every waking second. I started rocking my body back and forth as I remembered where I was and what we had to do today, with Professor's coat in my arms. I heard Leo by the door.

"I think I know something about Professor."

Betty and I were by Brooke's side in no time. Brooke pulled Leo into the house and slammed the door shut behind him. "What do you know?" she asked him quickly.

"I think Luke has something to do with it."

"Luke? Your brother Luke? What? Why do you believe that?" I asked breathlessly.

"Do you remember what happened the day before yesterday, at the ball?" Leo asked turned to me. "He left just after I punched him and he didn't come home by the time I came home that night. And when dad came home early the morning after, yesterday, Luke was still out. Luke came home last _night_ and looked scared but he didn't want to tell mom and dad what had happened or where he had been or anything."

"Where is he now?" Betty asked.

"He was home when I left, but I don't know if he's still there…maybe he's sleeping."

"So you think he kidnapped Professor?" Brooke asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Maybe." Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Or he saw who did."

"Okay, we still have a few villains to check off the list and we were going to interrogate Fuzzy Lumpkins today. Someone needs to keep an eye on Luke." Betty said.

"I can do that." Said Leo. "We live together. All I have to do is to follow him if he leaves the house."

"Maybe Liam…" Brooke said but silenced before finishing the sentence.

"What?" I asked her, but she only shook her head with her lips tightly sealed.

"What were you going to say about Liam?" Leo asked. "He didn't come home that night either, now that I think about it…"

"Shadow him too, if it's possible." Said Betty. "We need to go now."

 **Buttercup**  
While we flew, I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I had made Liam a suspect. What I actually wanted to say was that maybe Liam could help shadow Luke, but right after I uttered his name, I realized that what's between Liam and me was a secret.

What if I _had_ suggested that Liam could help us, what would Betty and Becca say? Why would I suddenly think that he's okay when I've hated him for _years_? Like, what would they say if they knew that I liked him? I mean, like-liked him… I wasn't even sure if he was serious about us. What if he and Luke had planned this all to happen? Liam was such a good actor… What if… what if Liam was in on it too?

I needed to stop thinking about that now… I needed to focus on finding Professor! And if Liam _was_ in on it…I will just have to kill him.

We flew over the town and headed to the woods where a small, decayed old cabin stood in an opening.

"Fuzzy Lumpkins…" said Betty nervously when we landed in front of the cabin. "I hope he doesn't start shooting us with his Boomstick."

"He's kinda' old now, right?" Becca asked. "I mean, he won't chase us or anything?"

"No… I hope you're right." Betty mumbled.

"Come on! Are you a Powerpuff girl or a Rowdyruff boy?" I said angrily. "His 'boomstick' is nothing compared to our powers!"

"Okay, stop this nonsense, girls!" said Betty who seemed to think that she was the bravest one. "Let's knock."

She knocked on the door and we all waited. It took a few minutes of knocking but at last, we heard steps inside the cabin and Fuzzy Lumpkins answered the door. He wasn't as bright pink as he was before, the color had faded a bit over the years and he had gotten gray hairs all over his fur. The jean overalls he wore had several patches and holes and were dirtier than ever, hanging loose on his wasted body. He looked at us with a pink eye that was filled to the brim with yellowish, sticky goo.

"Ew!" Betty and Becca exclaimed and backed away from Fuzzy, so I took their place in front of them.

"Fuzzy, we need to talk to you about-"

But what I wanted to say was something he didn't want to hear. He opened the door wide with a loud creek and pulled out his shotgun. "What're y'all doing here?" he shouted and began shooting around us.

We all shrieked and flew up on his roof to seek shelter.

"What now?" I asked angrily.

"Why did _you_ fly off? You said his boomstick was nothing compared to our powers!" Betty said accusingly.

"It can still ruin our clothes and-"

"Stop fighting! We need to come up with a plan to calm him down and interrogate him!" said Becca almost as angry as me and Betty.

I sighed, made a big hole in the roof with my fist, and flew into his home. I landed on the floor inside a shabby looking kitchen that didn't look like it had been cleaned in a long time. The floor was covered in some sort of sticky and stiffened dust, the walls had several weird stains from food and greasy sludge, dirty plates and glasses laid spread all over the counters and old, rotten food was on the table and oozed out a gross, disgusting and trapped in odor. Poor Fuzzy…

 **Blossom**  
I don't know how she did it without vomiting from the stench, but Brooke flew into Fuzzy's cabin, surprised him on the porch and then flew up to the roof again where Becca and I waited for them.

"Ask the questions now, Betty." She panted.

I looked past the edge of the roof down on the ground where Fuzzy's boomstick laid, bent and ruined between a big rock and a pile of logs. "Fuzzy, uh… Sorry for trespassing on your private property…"

"Yes, that's right! Y'all are trespassing on my private property!" Fuzzy shouted while hanging in Brookes grip.

"We're going soon, we only want you to answer a few questions about Professor." I continued.

"What do y'all wanna' know 'bout him?"

"Well… he hasn't been home for almost forty-eight hours…"

"And what am I supposed to be? Y'all's babysitter? Get off of my property!" Fuzzy Lumpkins yelled.

"We just wanted to know if you've seen him. Or maybe heard anything about him?" I continued as I hadn't been interrupted.

"Or maybe you took him, yourself!" said Brooke.

"I don't know anything about any Professor!" said Fuzzy, getting more and more furious every passing second, and began swinging his fists to try and free himself from Brooke.

"Keep asking him questions or something, Becca, I need to have a look around in his cabin," I said.

"Are you sure, Betty?" Becca asked and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Don't you think we're going too far?"

We both looked at Fuzzy who wormed around in Brooke's grip, he looked older and angrier than before and he started to tire.

"We have to…for Professor…" I pleaded. Becca looked down at her feet and nodded softly.

I felt great remorse when entering Fuzzy Lumpkin's cabin from the hole in the roof, while he was up there, forced to answer questions by two super strong persons while a third was snooping around his private property… I was desperate, we all were, and we were willing to do anything in our power to find our dad…

As I stood in the middle of the dirty kitchen, I felt my heart sink and something dark and heavy overwhelmed me. What if Professor wasn't here either? What if Brooke was right about him being… He couldn't be dead, could he? We would know, right? We would feel it, wouldn't we?

I quickly looked through the rooms in the cabin and it didn't take much time. There were only two rooms: the combined kitchen/living room and the bedroom. There was no toilet inside the cabin. I searched for a secret trapdoor in the floor that could indicate that there was a basement or just about _anything,_ really…but I didn't find a basement. I didn't find my dad.

After acknowledging my defeat, I flew up on the roof again, checked Fuzzy off the list and straighten out his shotgun. I flew home again with Becca and Brooke right behind me.

"Where are we going next?" Brooke asked and flew up beside me.

"Home. We need to eat something before continuing." I said, feeling empty inside. "If only those scientists hadn't asked Professor if he could help them he would be home right… now…"

"What?" Becca asked. She had noticed something different about the story I had fed to her about Professor's projects.

"A bacterium… He was helping them stop a villain-created virus." As I said that, an unexpected understanding popped up into my mind.

"Yeah? What's up with that?" Brooke asked.

"Come on!" I said impatiently, it was so obvious! "Out of all the villains that we deal with, which do we know are the most likely to spread viruses and diseases in order to seem like the evilest villains in town?"

Brooke and Becca said together with sudden realization, "The Amoeba Boys!"


	10. Chapter 9 - Him

To **MetallicalyLove** ; yes, I thought about that Buttercup thing (that it should be _Buttercup_ and not _Butter cup_ since it's a name) and actually changed it in this chapter! And I'm still trying to make this story sound as "English-speaking" as possible but yeah… I'm an amateur x)

Thank you for reading and commenting!

 **Him**

 **Professor**  
Him was going to force me to experiment with several different chemicals to make…

"A new batch of Powerpuff girls!" the demon laughed. "But these will be evil, strong and much, much better than the previous."

I cleared my throat.

"What?" Him said angrily turned to me.

"There are already several different… what did you call it? Batches? But they will never be as good as the original ones. We have the girls… then the guys that Mojo Jojo created with my recipe. Do you remember them; the Rowdyruff boys?"

"Of course I remember them! It was I who revived them!" Him growled.

"Then we have that little girl who befriended Mojo Jojo who also wanted to be a Powerpuff girl." I continued as it hadn't been any interruptions. "And my old college roommate, Professor Dick; created thousands of copies to sell around the world. But they weren't good enough because if you don't do it correct…"

"I am well informed about those little… failures… but today I want you to do your outmost to make my own little killer machines!"

I shook my head where I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed.

"Oh, but, Professor Utonium; there is a catch…" Him said evilly. "If you refuse; I will kill your little girls and you'll never see them again. Isn't that too sad?"

"Why do you want to bring them here before I'm finished with the experiment?"

"I want them to know I'm serious! I want _you_ to know I'm serious! If they try to ruin everything then they will have to answer to me, my machine and my own batch of powerpuffs!"

"So you're willing to risk everything by taking them here before we're finished?"

"There's no risk." Him said; stubborn. "You'll see, dear Professor."

 **Bubbles**  
The Amoeba boys wasn't in prison and was probably just roaming the town. It struck me that it felt unnecessary to try and find them; they weren't even on the list because they were too incapable to destroy anything; even less to kidnap Professor in front of our noses.

It didn't take long before we found them; they were just behind Townsville's purifier in the industrial area. We landed in front of them and they looked really happy to see us.

"Powerpuff girls!"

"Hi, Amoeba boys." Said Betty and Brooke, and I nodded.

"So, is there any mysteries you haven't solved yet?" the leader; Bossman; asked.

"Yes…" Brooke said; a little embarrassed. I guess she also felt that this wasn't a good idea at all.

Suddenly Bossman gave us a mysterious look and laughed evilly.

"Was it you?" I asked him; just for play because I knew they didn't have anything to hide.

"Maybe; maybe not." The little one in beret said; Tiny.

"Then what is it about?" Brooke asked; a bit impatiently.

Now they looked ridiculously busted; they looked down on the ground while they were feverishly reflecting on something.

"Yeah, yeah, game's over. Do you know anything about Professor?" Betty sighed.

"Professor? What professor?" the tall amoeba; Skinny Slim; asked.

" _Our_ Professor; of course, you morons!" Brooke said angrily.

"Shh…" Betty waved with her hand at Brooke. "Have you mistakenly spread a virus of some sort, then?"

"Not that I know of." Said Bossman. "Is there a virus around?" he smiled proudly.

"We don't actually know anything about it but… never mind." I said and sighed. "Come on; let's go. It can't possibly be the Amoeba boys anyways."

Betty nodded her head, checked the Amoeba boys off the list and turned around to lift off the ground.

"Wait, wait, wait!" the leader shouted. "I think I've heard something about your Professor!"

"Tell us!" Betty said hastily and grabbed the amoeba; but it didn't look like it was a pleasant experience since she let go of him immediately after and looked at her now sticky and green hands.

"We heard a boy talk about a Professor who'd been kidnapped!"

"Isn't that what _everybody_ is talking about right now?" Brooke complained.

"Yeah, well; he also said that he was going to meet the one who took Professor and…"

"Who took him?" I almost shouted.

"With that attitude I don't feel very helpful." Said Bossman and turned his back to us with his arms crossed.

Brooke roared furiously and made the amoebas jump out of fear. "JUST TELL US!" she shouted. "WHO WAS IT? TELL US! TELL US NOW!"

Tiny; who shivered out of fear; said: "The boy who told his friend that he was his assistant said it was Him."

"Was it the boy who took Professor? What did he look like?" Betty asked.

"No." the tall amoeba said impatiently. "Him!"

We looked around us to see if there was any other people around; but we didn't see anybody else than us and the Amoeba boys.

"You're stupider than us." Skinny Slim laughed.

"Him! It was Him who took Professor! Him!" Bossman said, almost angrily.

"Him, Him, Him!" Tiny and Skinny Slim shouted as they waved their tiny arms around.

"HIM!" said Betty, Brooke and I in one mouth; we finally understood what they meant. Of course; we had him on the list; Him; the most evil demon who lived under ground!

"Thank you!" Betty said hastily before we flew off to the town hall to find out more of the latest whereabouts of the demon.

 **Professor**  
Him had been quiet for almost an hour and just sat on a chair in the corner. He hadn't said a word; only sat there; wiggling his leg angrily and impatiently. I heard a sound from the hole in the ceiling and both I and Him looked up. The demon stood up, climbed the ladder up the hole and disappeared.

Above me I heard Him's unpleasant voices echo; he sounded angry; and a human voice answered. The other voice sounded scared; it must be his assistant who I hadn't seen yet. He had visited us a few times but every time he did; he was on the other side of the hatch above or didn't speak at all (while I was blindfolded) when he was in the same room as me.

They both walked closer to the hole; Him had forgotten to close the hatch; and I heard everything they said.

"… impossible. I've already told you so! It will never…"

"You must do as I say! Got it?" Him said threateningly. "You know what will happen if you don't obey. Remember?"

Silence.

"I'll try…" the assistant said. He sounded young and I had heard his voice before; but I don't know where from. "But it's not going to be easy."

"You will not try anything! You will do as I tell you and you will not fail to do so!" Him said loudly; they were almost right next to the hole now.

"I don't even know where they're at! They're probably looking for Professor Utonium!" a southern accent? It can't possibly be…

"Then go find them!" said Him like the assistant was missing the point. "Get the monkey out of prison if you must! Just… find… them!"

"Yes, sir…." The assistant said shakily; he sounded scared now. "I'll find them."

"Good. And one more thing before you go…" Him said sinister. "Remember this; if you fail; your family will pay… if you fail… the other will finish the job for you."

Silence while the assistant's breaths escalated. A scream and a thud. The demon had done something to hurt the young boy.

As he tried to calm down and said "Yes, sir…" through sobs; I finally figured out who the voice belonged to.

 **Buttercup**  
It was night again and we had no idea where Professor or Him possibly could be. The Mayor didn't know nor did the people in prison. The Amoeba boys said something about an assistant and we would figure stuff out so much faster if we only knew what he looked like! But when we searched for the Amoeba boys again to ask them they were gone… So now our mission was to find them instead of Professor.

The clock struck ten PM when we were too exhausted to continue. We hadn't slept much the last couple of days and had hardly eaten anything. I cooked the dinner this night and what is easier than grilled cheese sandwiches?

Betty sat by the kitchen table; all quiet; and noted all the leads on her lap top. They weren't many; but we needed everything worth mentioning and she did everything to make more sense out of them.

Becca sat on a chair; hugging her knees tightly with an empty look. She had stopped crying.

I didn't know what to feel about it all; it felt unreal; but now that we finally knew who had kidnapped Professor it felt like we could make a better plan on how to save him. The only thing we worried about was if the demon had taken him to another realm… but what had he succeeded with before anyway?

"How is he like nowadays?" Betty mumbled thoughtfully.

"The demon?" I asked.

"Yeah… do you think he is… crueler… than before?"

"I don't know…" I replied; didn't know what to say; didn't even want to think about it. "But I guess he's not more evil than before… or more intelligent, either."

To think that everything had been so wonderful only a few days prior; when I woke up next to Liam. It felt like every piece of the puzzle was in its place; that I had become that person I wanted to become. I became myself; without hiding behind make up, guys, alcohol or cigarettes; _I felt like me_.

But now everything's changed; and that demon was the guy that had to pay for it.

Everyone jumped on their seats when Becca's cell phone rang. "It's Leo." She said, surprised, and answered.

 **Bubbles**  
" _Luke left the house today and I missed it but I think I know where he goes all the time_." Leo whispered in one breath.

"Where?" I asked.

" _He's walking towards the mountains right now. I'm following him_."

"Does he know you're there?"

" _No, I'm keeping distance_."

"Where are you now?"

" _North West; near the boarders_."

"We're coming!"

We didn't have time to eat anything and flew to the North West part of the town. We spotted Leo and landed a few meters behind him by a tree and about a hundred meters ahead a black figure with a big and warm down jacket was walking; Luke. I cursed myself for not bringing my own jacket as we flew towards Leo who chattered his teeth.

"What do you think?" he asked us.

"Let's follow him and see where he goes." Betty whispered back.

The mountains silhouetted big and solid; black against the starry sky and the full moon. The trees around us whistled in the wind in a kind of creepy way; I had this spontaneous idea to grab Leo's hand… but it didn't really feel like the right moment right now.

He must have felt my hand twitching near his; because he took mine and smiled widely as I looked at him. It felt like it was a long time ago that I spent time with him; for real; to just lie in bed with him and cuddle; or just sit by the lake and talk about nothing. Actually it had only been a few days; but everything felt so far away now; like I had lived and borrowed another person's life. The only thing I could think of now was how to save Professor.

 **Blossom**  
When I saw Becca and Leo holding each other's hands I felt weirdly alone. Brooke was walking by my side but I needed a hand to hold; I needed Dainton's hand. I hadn't seen him for two days but it felt more like two months. Finally I had him in my life again; but what it looked like now it was going to be long before I could see him again… Sure; I could just turn around, fly to his house and hug him; but I really needed to keep my focus on this mission.

"He went behind the corner; let's hurry." Brooke mumbled and I awoke from my daydreaming.

Becca picked Leo up so that we could fly our way around the corner; it was much quieter than if we would run on the packed snow. When we turned the corner and reached the foot of the mountain we saw that Luke was already gone.

"But… where… I don't understand!" I said; on the verge on hysteria.

"There's no foot prints in the snow!" said Brooke and lightened up the ground with the light on her cell phone.

"He can't just disappear, right?" Becca asked. "I mean… if he can't fly… there needs to be an entrance somewhere…"

"Wait, did you hear that?" Brooke held her arms in front of her to tell us to be quiet as she kept her eyes on the dark mountains.

We all looked up and listened and after a few silent seconds Leo whispered: "What did you hear?"

"lt sounded like… you know when you climb a rock and slip; it sounded exactly like that."

"He must've climbed up." I said and flew up the mountain to search for the source of the sound; Brooke was just right behind me.

We didn't find anything; whatever the sound was, it wasn't Luke.

"What is it, Leo?" Becca asked underneath us.

"No, nothing… never mind." Leo replied. "Everything's just so weird right now."

Home again Leo cooked dinner for us because the sandwiches got ruined. Becca asked us to come home with us to keep company; but he had to stay home to shadow Luke; but he insisted on cooking for us since we were all too nervous to even boil water; and when we had all eaten Becca followed him home again.

 **Professor**  
 _Two days before Christmas_

"Well?" Him asked; triumphed; the next day.

I stood bent over an enormous cauldron with sweat all over my body. My hands and feet weren't tied anymore but he had put a heavy chain around my foot instead that was attached to the stone wall behind me.

"All the ingredients are in…" I said disappointed.

"The nutmeg?"

"Yes…"

"The chili pepper?"

"Yes."

"The mud, metal, fire pepper and the horns from a bull?" Him asked excitedly.

"Yeah…"

I really didn't want to do this; but after a quick look at the Powerpuff-exterminator six-thousand-and one I got for the first time in my life doubts about my experience of the demon; that machine could truly kill them as the first laser it shoots contained Antidote X; and the second laser was just an ordinary laser; and after losing their powers would kill them. All it needed to work was the demon's command; his voice… or voices.

I really miss the girls so much it hurts now but in the same time I don't want to risk their safety with the machine… If they could just save me… quick enough; Him's plan wouldn't be put into effect. But if it did; and he got his own little army of powerpuffs; my girls would be able to defeat them either way; I just know it.

"Only two little ingredients left!" Him danced his way to the other side of the room and came back with two black bottles; one of them seemed to shine through the cork. "Plutonium…" he whispered and poured the content from the bright bottle that was yellowish green. I looked away as he did; didn't want to see it. "And Chemical…"

"Hey! Him!" a voice shouted with his breath stuck in his throat by the entrance just as Him was going to pour the Chemical X in the cauldron.

"What now?!" Him roared back at Luke Berger who looked scared to death.

"They're here."

 **Buttercup**  
Liam knocked on the door the morning after and told us everything he knew about Luke. He said that he had realized what we were doing; and also knew Leo was shadowing him – Liam – all in vein. He had himself been following Luke the same night as us to find out what he was up to; we hadn't seen Liam because he had been waiting for Luke by the foot of the mountain. Even though my sister's didn't trust him; I did; I knew he could be good; just as Leo.

Liam showed us the way to the spot where we had lost Luke the night before; then he did something amazing; he put his hands on the mountain wall with glowing palms; they were glowing red; literally.

While a sort of door opened in the mountain he told us about a few powers they had that didn't really disappear when they were kids and got the Antidote X. Liam, Leo and Luke had one mutual power; and that was that they could open everything that was locked (so that's how Liam broke into stores all the time). But they all had their own powers as well and Leo's was that he could talk to animals; just like Becca; Luke could make himself invisible…

"That's why I heard something yesterday! It was Luke climbing up the mountain – invisible!" I exclaimed.

… and Liam had this super human strength. "I'm not as strong as y'all; but I'm much stronger than a normal person." Liam explained, took a branch from the ground and easily broke it in half to prove his point.

That explained his skills in fighting and jumping down trees without making any fuzz about it… I also remember how he didn't budge at all when I tried to move him away in that ball storage! I didn't have the self-control to stop myself from thinking about that day again and looked at Liam with a face expression that must have looked stupid as hell; and when he winked at me I shook my head and came back to reality.

We all ran through the secret entrance and went into a long tunnel in the mountain that sloped steeply down. It was warm, wet and slippery and after about five minutes we arrived to a big cave with a really long rope ladder in the far back.

A sudden sound made us all jump and Liam stood in front of us with his hands ready and glowing; somehow he had made a glowing orb or a globe or some sort of ball thing. I watched him with big eyes as he threw the ball to the area that had made the sound and Luke popped up from thin air.

"How did you…" I whispered as Betty and Becca flew to him and caught him.

"This power is for hidden and locked things…" Liam mumbled.

"What's the point with this power if we use it against each other?!" Luke shouted; he looked panicked and sweaty; but I didn't really expect anything else.

"Where… is… Professor?" I asked him threateningly. "Why are you working for Him?"

"Let me take y'all; Professor is imprisoned and I helped Him because I was forced to! I swear; I'm not working for him willingly!"

"You're staying here." Said Liam.

"No, please!" Luke shouted. "He needs to see me; he needs to think that I brought you or else we will all die!"

"Do you think we're stupid enough to believe you?" Betty asked with a firm grip around his arm.

"I mean it!" Luke glared at her with his red eyes. "You can't go in there without me; he'll know something's up! I don't know how he does it but he makes you see things… hear things…"

"Oh, shut up!" I said, grabbed him and shoved him; making my sisters loosens their grips on him. "You stay here. Becca would you…" I asked as I turned to Becca; she and Betty both gave me shocked expressions as they looked at Luke behind me; and when I turned around to look at him again… he was gone. "Oh, yeah…"

Liam began firing his red glowing globes again but didn't hit Luke and we flew up the ladder (I carried Liam) and arrived to another tunnel that ended with a big, heavy iron door. It was unlocked when Betty opened it and we all entered a big room with several different machines.

Someone was apparently living there as I spotted a small kitchen and a bed in one corner; but aside from that the room looked more like a mad scientist's laboratory; or in this case; a demon's…

Just as we stepped over the threshold we heard a hatch made out of iron as well close shut and Liam was the first one running to it in the far back in the lab. He managed to open it and I flew down to find myself in yet another tunnel; this time darker, wetter and hotter than the first one. By the end of the tunnel it was another iron door; and we all stopped to look at each other before entering it.

I opened the door this time and had to squint from the sudden light.

"Welcome, Powerpuff girls; to my humble abode."

That voice… those voices send shivers down my spine as I hadn't heard them for years. The demon that had always been a little bit creepier than the other villains didn't sound any different from last time I met him.

"Just in time for the show."

 **Blossom**  
"Professor!" Becca shouted; excitingly and tearful.

I followed her eyes to the big cauldron in one corner of the big cave we had walked into. There stood Professor perched on a stool with a chain around his ankle. My eyes started tearing up as I looked at him; he had dark bags under his eyes that popped out of their sockets a bit as his face was all sunken in; his dark hair was messy and oily and his chin had a dark shadow of stubble. If he had had any blood on him or any other signs of being harmed; I don't think Brooke had waited for more than a second before attacking Him; even though she had always been a little scared of him… as have I.

Professor didn't answer; but looked at us with his big popping eyes and nodded his head slightly and almost unnoticeable.

Luke showed himself and walked slowly along the wall to my right while the red demon; Him; stood in the middle of the cave-like room with his arms reached out in a welcoming gesture. "How nice of you to swing by; I had forgotten to write the address on the invitation cards."

"We're not here to play any games, Him! We're here to get Professor back!" I shouted across the cave.

"And to imprison you!" Becca shouted.

"And to kick your ass!" Brooke roared.

"Oh, I don't know about that…" Him grinned. "Soon I will destroy you with help from my newest invention; the Powerpuff-exterminator six-thousand-and one! And after that I will pour little Chemical X in the stew…" he showed us the small, black bottle with a big white X written on it. "… and then I will have the only Powerpuffs with superpowers in the world and I will rule it! This time I won't let you three little girls stop me!"

"Get him…" a voice whispered on my right.

I looked over to the sound and saw Luke crouching behind a big rock so only I could see him.

"But you said…" Professor said with raspy voice and Him cut him off.

"Yeah, and you bought it. Did you really think I would leave them alone if I actually had my own Powerpuffs? Did you think that _they_ would leave _me_ alone?"

"Powerpuff-exterminators are powerless against us!" Brooke laughed. "You're not the first and only one who had tried; you won't ever get rid of us!"

"Get him now." Luke whispered again. "It's safe for you; the machine he's talking about isn't even here. He's faking it."

"Why do you think I would trust _you_?" I hissed back.

"Oh, I think this would…" Him replied to Brooke's comment. "Try me."

Brooke prepared herself to attack but Professor shouted: "No, don't do it! He's right! I've seen it and you need to be careful. Just listen to…"

"Shut it!" Him hissed and I looked to my right again where Luke sat crouched and stared at me.

"This machine… the Powerpuff-exterminator six-thousand-and one, was it?" I asked Him and his smile got wider. "It's not in this room, right? So why should we listen to you now?" the demon slowly but surely dropped his grinning face. "You should have prepared better, shouldn't you?"

Luke had been right; why else would Him look more and more nervous as he tried to look at everybody in the room? He didn't have anything to reply with and without any warning at all he ran to the cauldron where Professor stood; stiff as a stick; with the black bottle between his long; thin fingers.

"Don't let him do it!" Professor shouted a few seconds before the demon reached him. "This recipe is much stronger than you!"

Everything happened in slow motion; Brooke and Becca flew over to Him the same second and stumbled into each other; knocking each other to the ground; Liam jumped over them and flew surprisingly far because of his strong legs and invisible steps sounded across the wet floor. I flew to stop Luke; thinking he was trying to ruin everything; during that second I believed it was him who had tripped Brooke and Becca.

Liam jumped in front of Him to stop him and something red flashed by the demons feet and he tripped and started falling; knocking Liam to the ground; the bottle escaping his hand, flying up in the air and heading towards the cauldron. I was fast enough catching up to it but when I tried to grab it, it was slippery of sweat because of the heat in the cave and acted like soap in my hands. I dropped the bottle and it was falling to the cauldrons bubbling interior.

"No!" Brooke shouted from the floor a few meters from me.

Him laughed but began howling out of rage when he discovered what had happened; Professor threw himself across the cauldron with a firm grip on the opposite edge and fetched the bottle just before it touched the bubbly liquid inside.

"No, no, no, no, NO! NO! It's not fair!" Him shouted as he began standing up. "Where is Brick!? Where's the brat that betrayed me!?" he spotted Luke next to the wall and began breathing faster. "You will regret everything!" he roared with a dark voice and seemed to get bigger before our eyes.

Luke's eyes rolled back into his head so you could only see the whites; his whole body started twitching and his shriek send chills down our spines as he seemed to try and pry open his forehead with his finger nails. The demon was doing something to him the rest of us didn't feel; but after only two seconds Liam walked up to Him and punched him so hard he fell to the ground – several teeth poorer.

"Dad!" I helped him down on the floor and hugged him; Brooke and Becca weren't far behind.

"My good girls! My good, clever little girls!" Professor said as he hugged and kissed us all. "I knew you would come!"

"We wouldn't have made it without Leo!" said Becca when Professor let us go to look at us. "He did everything to help and was the one who figured out Luke was in on it."

"And we can't forget about the Amoeba boys; they were the ones telling us that Him had taken you." Said I.

"And Liam", said Brooke and turned; smiling; to the green-eyed Berger-brother, "without him we wouldn't have found this place or gotten through that secret door in the mountain."

"You've all been so good and brave and I thank you Liam; for helping my girls; that's really grand of you. And you Luke…" Professor turned around to look at the red-eyed Berger-brother.

Luke sat on his knees, looking down on the floor and sobbed quietly. When he realized we all watched him he quickly wiped his face with his shirt, stood up but still didn't look at us.

"I would want to thank you, as well." Said Professor.

"What?!" my sisters and I exclaimed at the same time.

"You should also thank him", Professor continued without hesitate, "he was the one tripping Him before he could pour Chemical X in the cauldron."

"But he was also the one who…" Becca said, but Professor interrupted her.

"He actually didn't do anything; his mission was to get you to follow him here but he never succeeded…" Professor looked at Luke again who stubbornly tried to avoid eye contact. "… and he regretted every second here; he was obliged."

"So… what you said was true?" I asked Luke and took a step closer to him.

He finally reacted to our conversation and nodded; still not looking up. "I know it would've been more… honorable to refuse but…" he sighed and silenced; didn't show any sign to want to continue; so Professor filled in:

"He was forced to get you here; or else his family was going to… get hurt. In situations like these you don't do things to satisfy others; especially not strangers; you only think about your loved ones." Professor gave Luke a gentle smile. "You did what you thought was best; nobody's judging you." He turned to us with firm eyes.

Luke nodded again and gave Professor a crooked, thankful smile back; he actually smiled! It looked weird as I had never seen him do that before if it wasn't a sneer, and a deep dimple showed on his freckled cheek.

"We should take you home now, daddy", said Becca, "you look like you're starving."

"I… actually am…" said Professor and put his hands on his belly. "It's time to head home." He said with a smile.

I picked Professor up, Brooke carried Liam who held Him by his ankles and Becca grabbed Luke under his arms and we all flew through the tunnels, the laboratory and out through the secret door. My sisters and I put everybody down in the snow, turned in the doorway and flew back into the laboratory; where we trashed and smashed and destroyed every little centimeter of the room and all the stuff in it. We saved our lasers for last and burned every single molecule; nothing can fix this lab ever again.

 **Bubbles**  
After Professor thanked them again my sisters and I dropped Him off at the prison and Luke and Liam at their house.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" Betty asked me after Liam and Luke had entered the house and Leo ran out to talk to me.

"I'm coming after. Tell Professor it'll only take a moment."

She and Brooke said good night to Leo and flew off to meet Professor at the restaurant where he was waiting for the food.

"Long night?" Leo asked me and pulled me into a warm hug after I had told him everything that had happened.

"Something like that…" I replied. "By the way", I pulled out of his hug and looked into his eyes, "why didn't you tell me that Luke could turn invisible?"

"Oh… that." Leo let go and scratched his neck. "I don't know, actually. I guess I was on auto pilot; I've been told my whole life that we need to be discreet and never tell anyone about our powers… but of course I told you that I can talk to animals…"

"But you didn't tell me about the glowing hands." I continued. "Can't you do that, as well?"

"Well yes…"

"Is it really that big of a secret anymore?"

Leo nodded. "I think so; because Chemical X didn't really work that well for us you could only imagine what kind of experiments people would want to do on us if they knew we still had some of our powers. I didn't think that the information about his invisibility was going to help us to find Professor; because to be honest; I actually didn't believe that he was working for Him."

"He was obliged." I felt forced to say.

"I know. The important thing is that Professor now is safe and we can go back to normal."

"Mm…" I mumbled.

"I'm sorry, Becca. I promise never to keep secrets from you ever again. It was stupid of me… okay?"

"Is there anything else I should know about you and your brothers?" I asked him defiantly.

Leo seemed to contemplate, smiled sadly and shook his head. "No, now you know everything. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you. But never again…" I warned him but still gave him a crooked smile.

"I swear; never again." He kissed me and then I flew to the restaurant.

 **Professor**  
We ate at the new Italian restaurant by the train station and ordered so much food we could almost feed a whole city; we were all hungry like wolves.

Before the dessert we discussed the latest happenings and tried to figure out why Him had used Luke Berger as his assistant. We all agreed on that he must have been under the impression that Luke was as evil as him; but we all knew now that that wasn't true.

When we were all full we finally flew home again – my house, my bed! But before I can sleep I need to call my mother to calm her down and tell her that everything is alright.


	11. Chapter 10 - Christmas Eve

To **CandyCane 21** : you asked who (the hell) Betty, Brooke and Becca are and they are indeed Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles! I changed their names because in this story they felt that those names weren't very… normal. Here's what Professor says about their names in the first chapter:

"When they were thirteen years old they decided that they didn't want to be Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles anymore, they wanted normal names even though I liked them. But I understood – of course – they should be able to feel normal considering the circumstances. My only insistence was that they would still use the first letter B.

Blossom's new name was now Beatrice, Buttercup wanted to be called Brooke and Bubbles had a harder time finding a good name that starts with a B, so she renamed herself Rebecca; but she wanted us to call her Becca."

Sorry for making you confused and thank you for reading and commenting! : )

 **Christmas Eve**

 **Buttercup**  
"See you on Christmas." I whispered in the cell before I went to bed the same night Professor came home.

" _Can't we do something tomorrow?"_ Liam asked.

"Grandma is coming over, so I don't know. But maybe I could sneak over tomorrow night?"

" _Sneak over tonight._ " He pleaded.

"Liam." I sighed.

" _I know… But it's boring as hell that you all of a sudden want to start all over and… wait._ "

"Boring; maybe. Necessary? Yes."

He chuckled; oh, I loved that sound. " _Because you can't trust me?_ "

"Of course I can, but…"

" _I know; you just want to start all over._ " He sighed. " _But maybe you'll sneak over tomorrow night?_ "

"Maybe." I laughed quietly.

" _Good night, then, Buttercup._ "

"Watch it, Butch." I snarled.

Liam laughed. " _Sleep tight, Love._ "

 **Bubbles**  
 _The day before Christmas_  
Professor's mother; who we called grandma; was coming to our house this Christmas and new year's. Professor told us that we were all invited for Christmas dinner at the Berger's house. Maybe this would finally work; now that we've gotten a little closer to Luke and Liam maybe they didn't want to ruin for us anymore.

Professor told us how Luke had been forced to obey Him – or else his family was going to die. Well… I guess I'll give him that; but other than that he still hadn't really been an angel; I remembered the comment in the car, how he pushed me by the lockers and then again at the Yule ball… was he going to change now?

Liam – I didn't really know anything about him except that he was the captain of the basketball team and really, really popular. Of course; he had helped us a lot to find and save Professor (he was even the one punching Him), but after that he was all quiet and seemed to think that all time spent with us was a waste of his time. Either that or he's shy; but I really doubt that.

"I think he just felt uncomfortable." Said Betty after I had shared a few feelings with her.

We stood in the downstairs bathroom and freshened ourselves up before going with Professor to pick grandma up at the airport.

"I mean; we were the enemy and all of a sudden he helped us and now we're all eating dinner together. It can't be anything other than that, right?" she continued.

"You're right." I said as I made my usual long braids in my hair. "Maybe both Liam and Luke feel that way about us? That they're confused?"

"I guess."

We got in the car; Professor, Betty, Brooke and I; ten AM to go to the airport. Grandma's plane wasn't going to land until ten forty-five and Professor really didn't think that one of us picking her up by flight sounded like such a good idea – considering her age.

 **Buttercup**  
"There are my sweet little granddaughters!"

Grandma came running towards us with two big rolling bags and hugged all four of us; Professor last. She didn't look a day over fifty even though she was sixty-eight years old – one hell of an energetic old lady.

"Oh, John", she said with a tear-filled smile, "what if Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles didn't exist; what would've happened with you?"

"Brooke…" I mumbled, but I had already lost the war – she was never going to use our new names.

"And you're all so big! Your hair is longer than last time, Buttercup!" said grandma and started to comb through my hair with her hand, then she put both her hands on my shoulders. "Looks nice. Are you still a punkrocker?" she asked and looked at my clothes.

I wore my ripped beige and black jeans (but that was because all my other clothes was dirty) and an all too big leather jacket over a dark green hoodie. Professor looked a bit angry when he saw me walking down the stairs this morning before going to the airport; but I actually didn't have any other choice.

"No…" I mumbled; embarrassed. A group of guys just walked by; all with guitars and other instruments and different hair colors (they looked like a band); and they all grinned at me.

"Then, what are you?"

"Nothing…" I said and pulled away from her. "I just put some clothes on."

"So, should we go?" said Professor who had noticed that all I wanted was to be left alone.

When we came home Professor started up the coffee machine; Betty and Becca followed grandma to the living room and I walked dejectedly behind them.

We; all five of us; had a nice conversation together in the living room while drinking coffee, tea and ate some of grandmas famous home baked cookies. Mayor had called all morning to find out more about what time grandma would arrive; so that he could get some of those cookies too.

 **Blossom**  
"So how's it going with Dainton Hannigan, Blossom? Last time I was here you had just met him." Grandma said suddenly after we had just laughed a little over Mayor and his temporary distance from pickles.

Professor and Brooke looked down on the table but Becca nodded excitedly.

"It's great between us. We had a small break but we decided to start dating again just a couple of days ago." I said; truthfully. Both Professor and Brooke was listening (I hadn't told any of them about Dainton and the Yule ball due to… everything that had happened) so I figured it was best to stick to the truth.

"Will I finally meet him? Grandma won't live long, you know."

"Hush, mom, you'll live long enough to see your great grandchildren." Said Professor happily and took a zip of his coffee. "By the way; Bub… Rebecca has been seeing a boy too. Right, Becca? How long have you and Leo been dating?"

"Oh! I need to know everything about him!"

"Leo and I have been dating for only four months." Becca said embarrassed.

"Tell me, sugar; what does he look like? Is he tall? What kind of clothes style does he have?"

"So… Dainton is back?" Professor asked me quietly; so that's why he threw Becca to the wolves.

"We talked about it at the ball and made up again." I replied. "I can invite Dainton later if you want to?" I asked grandma when she had calmed down a little.

After dinner Dainton came over and sat down in the kitchen with grandma to get to know each other – of course she loved him. The rest of the evening was nice and cozy in the living room with the fireplace that threw pretty shadows around the room. Grandma told us stories about young Professor like she always did when she visited us; they were always as embarrassing for him as they were funny for us.

Nine PM Brooke decided to go to bed; but when grandma told her she would make hot chocolate for everybody; she stayed a bit longer.

 **Bubbles**  
 _Christmas_  
We were going to celebrate Christmas at Leo's parent's house four o' clock the day after. Mr and mrs Berger were originally going to celebrate with their family in Florida; but that family was going to another country this year; so they thought it would be nice to invite us instead. They liked celebrating Christmas with a lot of people around them; wasn't that what Christmas was all about – to be with your loved ones?

Mr and mrs Berger didn't really know my family but they really liked me, and Professor and mr Berger had gotten to know each other a few days prior. And by the way; they were really thankful for their sons Professor gave them ten years ago.

I invited Leo over a few hours before we were going to his house; grandma really wanted to see him and couldn't stop talking about him. When the doorbell rang at eleven o'clock grandma jumped out the chair in the living room and almost ran to answer the door; and when she saw Leo she looked chocked; but then she smiled politely.

"Oh, I didn't know you were one of those boys. It's him, isn't it?" she asked, turned to me.

"Wow, how did you see that?" I asked her; they didn't look anything like they did ten years ago and the papers hadn't written anything about them – even less posted any pictures – since they were children.

She smiled even wider. "My name is Arabella Utonium; Bubble's grandmother." She held her hand out and Leo took it.

Why did she call me that in front of Leo? Maybe she didn't know how facetious Leo could get; but still.

"My name is Leo Berger; Boyfriend to… Bubbles." He said teasingly and laughed at my face expression; so it had begun… "And yes; I am one of _those_ boys."

"Oh! I hear you're from the south!" grandma exclaimed; surprised over Leo's accent I really didn't notice nowadays. "Is it Texas?"

"Yes, ma'am." Leo said jokingly. "Where are you visiting from?"

"South Carolina, sugar." She replied with an even rougher accent than before.

Grandma stepped aside to let Leo in. She noticed that he didn't take his beanie off when she showed him into the kitchen, but didn't point it out as she had already started to like him.

"Leo, get out!" Betty shouted and threw herself across the table. Brooke flew in front of her to cover the table even more.

"What?" he asked, chocked.

Betty began laughing. "We're wrapping _your_ presents now so you need to go!"

"Okay, then let's go to the living room." Grandma said happily; she sat down in Professor's chair again. "So… can I just ask… how… why…"

"Why Leo?" I continued her question and sat down in the big couch furthest from the chair.

"Yes?"

Leo gave me a hasty glance before sitting down in the small couch nearest to grandma.

"Well…" I said. "Do you remember they got rid of their powers and were sent to Fort Davis, Texas?"

"Yes?"

"They moved back over a year ago and…"

Grandma slowly nodded her head when a light of understanding ran past her face. "You are a naughty girl." She laughed; fortunately she was never strict or suspicious.

"That was almost eleven years ago; we're not like that anymore." Said Leo; relieved.

 **Buttercup**  
Quarter to four, we all got into the car; me, Betty, Becca, Professor and grandma. Grandma had already met Dainton and Leo and now we were going to Berger's house to celebrate Christmas… she was going to meet Liam as well without knowing that he was my…

An invisible hand grabbed the inside of my stomach and twisted it; how was I going to behave around Liam? Is he going to hug me, ignore me or just pretend like nothing had happened? In only ten minutes I would find out…

/When we stood in the hallway right inside the door I had a look around before daring to meet Liam's eyes; their home was beautifully decorated with warm colors like brown, red and yellowish gold. To my left was a black door and to my right was a small table with a phone and over it hung a family portrait. Next to the table was a white door with a heart shaped sign that said; WC.

The first entrance next to the toiket was the kitchen and right in front of us was the entrance to the dining room; if you walked through it you would come to the living room.

"Hi, welcome and merry Christmas! I am Daniella Berger." The mother in the family said with her broad Texan accent. She had short, blonde hair and a heart shaped face and a pear shaped body; she took Betty's hand that was the closest.

"Beatrice." Betty said with a big smile and then greeted mr Berger who said his name was Charles.

Everyone greeted each other and then we started heading to the dining room where Luke, Liam and Leo stood to show us our seats. Pure upper class family…

Betty first hugged Luke; a little too generous; then she hugged Liam and last Leo who showed her to the dining table. I just shook Luke's hand without looking at him; all I could focus on was Liam's face… and his body. He had his hair in a man bun on the back of his head like he had on the Yule ball; his moss green jumper sat so tightly on his big, muscular torso and his black tight jeans was mocking me; like they were saying that I could only look but never touch.

Before I could even think about how he was going to greet me he took my hand the second after Luke had let it go, squeezed it tightly and looked so passionately into my eyes my legs started to feel numb. He squinted his eyes a little and before I fell into his arms he put his hand on my back and turned me around to face the table.

"Here's your seat, miss." He whispered so only I could hear him. "I'll sit right across from you."

So he wasn't ignoring me; our relationship was just a secret.

Mrs Berger told us all to sit down while her and mr Berger would serve us the cold dish. I sat at the end of the table across from Liam; next to me sat Betty across from Luke (the whole night she tried to engage him into a conversation even though he looked more and more uncomfortable through the evening); next to Betty sat Becca across from Leo; then Professor and grandma across from mr and mrs Berger.

While everybody ate glazed ham with creamed corn and sauces during laughter and nice conversations; Liam just sat in front of me and looked at me with his big green eyes. He smiled teasingly. Lucky the table cloth reached to the floor; Liam had kicked one of his shoes off to caress my foot under the table.

 **Blossom**  
When the main course (Cajun turkey) arrived to the table I started to notice what a big mistake it had been to place Brooke across from Liam; they just sat there and stared at each other. They didn't expressly look mad or anything, but indifferent. It seemed like they had this mental fight over power; like "who has the most right to sit at the table". I tried to make both Liam and Brooke to take part of mine and Luke's conversation; but both of them seemed uninterested and just wanted to stare at each other. Well… Luke wasn't really interested either.

"So are we all full and satisfied?" mrs Berger asked half an hour through the main course.

All plates were empty and mr Berger had even unbuttoned his pants.

"Yes, thank you so much, Daniella. The food was extraordinarily delicious." Grandma said kindly.

"Thank you." The rest of us agreed.

"Well, that's too bad; then maybe y'all don't want dessert?" mr Berger laughed.

"That can wait; the food needs to melt for a bit." Mrs Berger said turned to her husband. "Okay then, I'll just take the dirty dishes away…"

"I can do it!" said Liam.

"I'll do it!" said Brooke a split second after him.

They both were just about to stand up; had they really gotten that sick of each other that they both volunteered to clean the table?

"Oh, no, Brooke, you really don't have to." Mrs Berger said.

"It's the least I can do." Brooke smiled.

"That's very polite of you, Buttercup." Grandma said, surprised, but turned to Professor with an apologetic smile since he was the one who had raised her.

Brooke and Liam began cleaning the table off and took all the dirty dishes to the kitchen. I hope they weren't going to start a fight in there…

 **Buttercup**  
I had just loaded the dishwashing machine when I felt someone grab me around my waist, turned me around to face a pair of big, dark green eyes. Liam slowly pushed me against the fridge and put his hands on each side of my head; with me between his big, muscular arms.

"What if someone sees us?" I whispered with a playful smile.

"I needed to be close to you; you've been making me crazy all night." He whispered back in his deep, raspy voice; bent over to take a whiff of my hair. "Did you _have_ to wear that tight… low-cut dress today?" he looked anxious; like he wasn't going to be able to contain himself much longer.

"I very much had to." I said. "Did _you_ really _have_ to wear those tight black jeans?"

Liam took my hand and brought it down to the front of his jeans; he put it on a very hard bulge on his pants. "I very much had to." He echoed.

He bent down to kiss me; but I ducked under his arm and stood next to him. "Not here, Liam; someone can see."

"Then can I escort you to something more private?"

"I still won't do anything with you in a house full of people."

"I just wanna talk." He pleaded. "You've never seen my room."

Without waiting for an answer he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the kitchen, quickly walked across the hall and opened the black door. I got a hasty glance of the dining room where a pair of big pink eyes almost caught Liam and me; the same second as she was looking our way Liam dragged me through the black door and down to the basement.

The first thing I saw down there was a big open room with a pool table in the middle of it and a big black leather couch against one of the walls; a couple of ceiling lamps threw a cozy light over the scene. We walked past the pool table and Liam opened the first black door to the right.

"Those other two doors are the bathroom and the laundry." Liam told me.

Liam's bedroom had three dark grey walls and one wooden wall where his bed was. The rest of the room was a bit cramped with a nightstand, a clothes cupboard, a desktop with something that looked like a really expensive monitor on it and a book shelf right by the door. On the left wall were a window and a door to a stairway that led up to the backyard.

"What do you think?" Liam asked me after he had closed his door; he looked a bit nervous – that was weird since he had been so confident just a minute ago.

"What?" I asked him.

"What?"

"Why do you look so nervous all of a sudden?"

"Oh…" Liam sat down on his bed. "You're actually the first girl to be in here… except for Daniella of course."

"I am?" I asked with a wide smile.

"Yeah…" he nodded with a kind of a mixed surprised and ashamed expression on his face; like he couldn't believe it himself. "And I cleaned today."

"You and your plans…" I mumbled and felt his scent more concentrated than ever; and that made me doubt my own self-control. "You planned that we were going to come in here; that's why you cleaned the room, wasn't it?" I sat down next to him on his bed.

"You don't think I'm hygienic?" Liam grinned next to me, but when he saw my judging face he added: "Okay, it was Daniella who told us to clean our rooms…"

"But you refused and let her do it instead?" I jeered.

"You know me better than I thought." He fell down on his pillows with his arms behind his neck.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"I actually just wanted to spend time with you."

"Why didn't we do that upstairs?" but I already knew the answer to that question; I had felt the same thing.

"I don't know… Don't you think the others deserve a chance to melt everything that has happened these past days?" he was thinking about Professor's kidnapping and that he and Luke all of a sudden had become our allies.

"I think most of it should stay between us." I said and remembered the ball storage and the showers in the boys' locker room; the only two memories I had in my mind for the moment with Liam's drugging scent in my nostrils. I fell back next to him in the big bed.

"You think?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you ashamed of me?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Hey, it was your and Luke's plan to trick me; how do you think I feel about all of this?"

"Maybe it was…" he admitted. "… But I never told Luke that I had accomplished to get you in bed. I haven't told him anything at all."

"Anybody else?"

"Only Robin and Tilly know; they tried to help me to get you to notice me for weeks. One time it went down the drain, remember? You began flirting with Jake."

"That was to make you jealous…" I mumbled. "And it worked; you bashed his head in to the trophy cabinet." The butterflies in my stomach began fluttering around and my heart seemed to skip every other beat.

Liam laughed. "I did warn him."

"What did you say to him?"

"Nah… I just said that you were maybe going to hit on him but that I wanted him to leave you alone."

"Did you tell him that you liked me?" wow, why don't I just ask him to marry me?

… but Liam didn't care too much about my comment. "No, I didn't… but still; he could've shown me some respect." he scratched his nose; his perfect, straight, pointy nose.

We were quiet for a bit, lying next to each other, until I spoke again. "Why didn't you get expelled, by the way? Assault equals suspension on our school." I had forgotten all about it.

"I just talked to principal Williams and she agreed on that it was enough with a few detentions."

"How?" I wondered, astonished over the fact that he had gotten off so lightly.

"I just told her that Jake and I had been goofing around when I pushed him into the cabinet by mistake. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh… then I hope you apologized to Jake."

"Hell no." Liam laughed. "Like I said; he had it coming and he knew about it." When I didn't reply but stared angrily at him instead, he hurried to say: "But we're friends again; he knew what he did was wrong so it's cool between us now."

How he got Jake to forgive him; I don't know; but guys usually behave strangely when they're friends…

 **Bubbles**  
"Merry Christmas." Said Leo with his glass of alcohol free eggnog raised towards me; I raised my own and repeated what he had said.

It was seven o' clock and the snow was swirling outside the window and we all were watching it in silence.

"I really love a proper old fashioned white Christmas." Said Daniella after a few moments. "Now where are those kids?"

"Brooke and Liam?" Leo asked.

"Yeah?"

Brooke and Liam had been gone for almost ten minutes and when Betty stood up to walk to the kitchen and see what had happened to them, they both came out to the dining room with a plate of cake each.

"We dropped a glass in there and was just cleaning it up." Said Liam and put his plate down in front of his parents.

"It exploded… it's glass literally everywhere." Said Brooke and put her cake plate down in the middle of the table.

Maybe they'd become friends after all?

The dessert consisted of a really delicious toffee cake with whipped cream and ginger bread crumbing. It was actually really great; it was the best cake I had ever had!

/"This was really a successful Christmas dinner party; and the people you get to know." Said grandma when we all stood in the hallway, putting our jackets on to leave quarter to eight that evening. "Your family is such a delight; delicious food, beautiful home, well raised, polite boys." She said turned to mrs Berger. "It must be the genes; I know many people from the south – me and John included – and I know how polite we are."

"Oh, thank you so much, Arabella!" said mrs Berger with a wide smile an put her hand on grandma's arm. "But I didn't notice your accent at all, sweetheart! It must be 'cause we're so used to it in this house. North Carolina, now that I think of it! Am I right?"

"South – Charleston." Grandma replied.

"I have friends living there!" mrs Berger exclaimed and turned to her husband. "Dory and her husband Henry; do you remember them?" Charles nodded but shrugged his shoulders at the same time; as if he actually didn't remember. But Daniella didn't seem to have the energy to try and enlighten him so she turned to grandma and the rest of us again. "It was really nice of y'all to come."

"Thank you for everything!" said Professor, and my sisters and I nodded.

Leo gave me a hug and a kiss and gave me a small gift without anyone seeing it. "Merry Christmas." He whispered again.

Professor gave me the bag of gifts for the Berger family.

"You didn't have to give us these!" said mr Berger, but he opened the small door under the stairs and pulled out a bag of presents himself.

/When we all sat in the car five minutes later and started to roll down the street Brooke leaned forward to Professor who drove. "I was thinking…" she said. "With all the southern accents around us… why don't you speak like that too?" she began laughing and distorted her voice so that she sounded like a real, exaggerated redneck: "Where's ya backbone, cowboy?"

Professor's neck seemed to turn red but he laughed with the rest of us.

/For two whole weeks Professor had tried to find out what we wanted for Christmas; and he had picked out just about exactly what I wanted. Since I hadn't finished my book about dolphins yet he bought a really big copy about how you best attend to mammals on the Zoo like seals, giraffes and bears.

I really liked that book and started reading it just as I had unwrapped the gift… Professor didn't know that I was against keeping animals at Zoos and circuses and stuff; having them as amusement; but of course I didn't tell him that. He had also bought two DVD movies that contained three documentaries each about different water animals and other mammals.

Leo had bought me a big, red t-shirt with a squirrel on it holding an acorn and some pink hearts popped out of the squirrels head. That shirt was for sleeping in, not wearing in public. The small package contained a pair of golden earrings I had pointed out in a store three weeks ago… I can't believe he remembered!

Betty gave me a gift certificate to a book store in town and Brooke gave me a card saying: "I could clean your room for a month? And here's fifty dollars." Brooke's not cheap; she is just really uncreative.

The two last presents were from grandma; both birthday and Christmas presents. The Christmas gift contained an encyclopedia about all the whales on earth (Professor told her I was going to study to become a marine biologist) and the birthday gift was ME2's newest album.

/Leo once promised he was going to ask me to go with him on a party some time; and he recommended a party Robin Snyder was going to have on New Year's Eve.

 **Blossom**  
Grandma was going to stay until after New Year's and after then go back home to sunny South Carolina. That's why she liked spending Christmas over at our house in Washington; where you would always have your white Christmas. Townsville – where the famous Powerpuff girls lived and where all the monsters from Monster Island went to fight us. It wasn't like any other town in America; Townsville had eighty percent rainy and twenty percent sunny summers and really snowy winters.

Sometimes the motorists couldn't even drive on the roads because of all the snow and ice; it was then Mayor called me and my sisters; we were the ones who had to melt the roads around town with our lasers and then dry them with our breaths… it did work; but we wanted to have our snow days too, sometimes. Today was one of those days and we had to fly around town to make the roads snow and ice free.

"Aren't we done yet?" Becca complained as she shattered teeth.

"Soon enough. We'll be finished before lunch." I said.

"And we get nothing at all out of this." Brooke muttered as we stood still in the air above the now dry road.

I didn't answer but agreed in silence.

We were finished eleven AM and when we got home grandma had made us hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies. I love my grandma!

 **Buttercup**  
Liam and I texted each other regularly every day after Christmas Eve; only to ask the other what they did and how they were. We also met daily; furtively; in the shopping district or in the basement at his house.

The last day of the year; thirty-first of December; Liam send me a text saying that Robin was going to have a party at her house (not that I already didn't know that) – is there any day her parents aren't on a business trip?

The only problem; but relief; is that Christopher Snyder (Robin's twenty one year old big brother) was going to be there with his friends too. The relief part of the problem was that he could by booze for Robin and her closest friends – me and Tilly – so I ordered a six pack of beers and a bottle of vodka for me and Liam.

Oh, and I have finally quit smoking for real now! I don't even miss the cigarettes one bit.

/Liam and I had agreed on meeting each other at the party instead of going there together; and he had warned me that Leo and Becca were going as well. Of all people in this world – Becca? That was a new one…

"Hi" someone said behind the corner of the house when I was just about to open the door to the music blaring house in front of me. Liam came out of the shadows with a wide smile on his face.

"Hi." I replied with my breath stuck in my throat; I always got nervous when I saw him. Had I fallen in love with him or something? "Is Leo and Becca here yet?"

"No, they should be here at nine; so we'll have a whole thirty minutes to ourselves."

"Is it okay to… be ourselves in front of our friends?" I asked unsurely; unsure if he was going to understand my question or not.

"Without the other?" Liam asked with raised eye brows; he hadn't understood.

"No, with each other, moron." I teased. "They deserve to know, don't they?" I felt my face turning red and my hands going numb.

Liam didn't seem to get where I was going. "And your sisters don't?"

Well this moment got serious quickly. I just stared at my feet; didn't know what to say and didn't really want to share my feelings about that.

As he had read my mind he said: "I was there at the Yule ball when she and Dainton got together again. Is that the reason why you don't tell people about us?"

I nodded; he knew me better than I thought. Betty had actually acted like a bitch towards me; she hadn't said a word that she and Dainton was back together again… even though I was the one who had comforted her for a whole week; talked to her an entire week; poured out feelings on her for a week… she'd rather talk to grandma than with me.

"Let's do what she does." Liam said and I looked at him in disbelief. "We won't tell her anything about us; she will be the last one figuring it out."

I laughed and he took my hand and together we walked through the door to Robin's New Year's Eve party.


	12. Chapter 11 - New year

I want to thank my new follower **AmuletX** who also did favorite this story!

 **New year**

 **Professor**  
I would rather not let Buttercup go to her friend's new year's eve party; but she promised she was not going to drink this time and risk to miss the fireworks. Bubbles was even going to that party; so what kind of party could it be if she is going?

Blossom spent this evening at Dainton's, and my mother and I sat in the living room and watched a show on TV about on how you celebrate New Year's in different countries over the world.

"It's sad the girls didn't want to stay here with us." She sighed from the couch with her knitting in her lap.

"At least they ate dinner with us; and your shrimp cocktails." I said with a smile from my papers.

"Yeah…" she sighed again and threw an eye over to the fireplace. "They're young, the girls; of course they should be out with their friends and have fun."

I puffed on my pipe but couldn't stay silent anymore; I really needed to make my mother happy in one way or another. "What do you say about a spontaneous gathering? We could invite Mayor and miss Bellum; and maybe mr and mrs Berger?"

Mom instantly jumped out of the couch; much happier than before and grabbed the phone. "Let's call the Bergers first!"

I fetched the bottles of wine and champagne from the shelves down in my lab (it was alcohol in them; I didn't use them to experiment with); now we were going to have a party for real!

 **Blossom**  
Eleven PM swung by without me noticing so I nudged Dainton on his arm since he was sleeping in the couch next to me. The TV was on in front of us and it showed and old action movie we both liked.

"What… what?" he mumbled sleeplessly.

"The clock will strike twelve o' clock in only an hour; don't go back to sleep now!" I said; pretending to be angry.

"I'm sorry, sweetie." He said while stretching his body and yawned. "Maybe you don't think it's fun being here when I'm sleeping…"

"It's okay, just don't go back to sleep."

"Maybe you'd have more fun over at Robin's?" he said; half suspicious, half amused. He saw my bitter face expression and quickly awoke. "No, I'm sorry; that was a stupid thing to say."

"And you? Would you rather be at Robin's?"

"No, it wasn't that… fun… last time around."

He tried so hard not mentioning anything about what happened that night; the night it was my first time drinking and Stan was with me and Dainton and Olivia was there and… it was just chaos.

"Well; originally I was going to hang out with Mindy and the guys at Malcolm's house; but I'd rather be with you." I said; still a little angry.

"That was what I was going to do too." He said and sat up. "Do you think…"

"Now to think about it…" I mumbled. "They planned that we were going to see each other on New Year's and get together again."

"But we were faster." He said and smiled at me. I couldn't resist his smile and kissed him on his lips. "So, what've happened in the movie?"

"Gary got murdered by Ullrich and Samantha gave birth to Percy junior."

"Ah, so we're at the end of it."

"Yes, so don't sleep anymore!" I said and tickled him. Even though he wasn't ticklish he could pretend with me; something he never did with Olivia.

 **Bubbles**  
Leo had been right about that not only numskulls drink. He and I sat together with a group of people that he knew; some of them from school and some from the Skate House and they all had a cool skating clothes style; Clyde and Simon included of course. They all drank beer and other drinks but wasn't as wacky as that black haired football captain had been that night Leo and I was going to share our first kiss.

"Highball? Leo? Becca? Ginger?" Clyde asked and was in a step of standing up. Ginger was sitting next to me; she and Clyde were dating now by the way!

Leo looked at me like I was the one in charge; and I toughened up and nodded my head. "One each; a small one." Said Leo and nodded my way.

It felt exciting and I had this tingling sensation in my whole body when I received the drink. I took a zip. It didn't taste as I had imagined; it tasted like soda and gas (not that I had tasted gas before… oh, wait, yes I have! But that's another story!) so I put the glass down on the table again.

"Becca?" Leo asked and leaned towards me so that we could talk in private.

"I don't want to do this to Professor." I whispered.

"Wasn't it good?" Sarah asked; one of Leo's skateboarding friends who didn't attend our school.

"Yes… yes, it was."

"But?"

"She wasn't feeling it." Leo stood up for me and turned my way. "That's more for me!"

And like a white knight in shiny armor he drank both our drinks in two big gulps (but it would have been better to just pour them out, haha.)

"Aren't you going to get drunk?" I asked him; wide eyed.

"No, it was hardly any liquor in it." He replied and put his arm over my shoulders. "You need a little bit more to get drunk; at least if you're as tall as I am. But I don't need to drink more tonight, if you don't want me to."

"You can drink." I said truthfully. "As long as I don't have to carry you home."

"That wouldn't be a first…" he laughed a little; a bit embarrassed.

"Not unconscious."

He caressed my face with his free hand and looked deep into my eyes with his dark blue void. "I'll not get drunk, Becca. I want every wake second with you sober."

After that none of us drank alcohol again; so that was that with that experience!

When the clock got closer to midnight Leo and I got out on the porch and several other followed us. It was only five minutes left until the fireworks and nobody wanted to miss them.

"Are you siblings to Brooke?"

Leo and I turned around to a group of guys that looked a few years older than us. It was the dark haired guy with blue eyes who had talked to us; I knew him somehow but didn't know from where.

"I am; but Leo is my boyfriend." I replied.

"Oh, so then you're Luke and Liam's brother?" asked a guy with brown eyes.

"Yes."

The fireworks started playing above our heads. Everybody stood quiet for a while to watch; and when all began shouting "Happy new year!" Leo turned to me and gave me a kiss.

"Happy new year." He whispered.

"I am Robin's brother; Chris, by the way. Without my blessing you kids wouldn't have the permission to have a party here tonight." The blue eyed guy continued like it hadn't been any intermission. So that was why I thought I knew him; because he is Robin's brother. "I don't know about stuff like this but I really need to ask; do you double date and such?"

"It happens…" I said and grinned; didn't really know what he wanted out of that question.

"Isn't it awkward? I mean… you, for instance", he pointed at Leo with a drunken finger, "how would it feel to go on a double date with your brother and her sister?" he pointed at me.

"Maybe that _would_ be awkward…" I said. "But only because none of his brothers dates any of my sisters."

"Isn't the green eyed girl your sister and the green eyed guy his brother?" asked another guy with blonde hair.

"Well, yeah, but they hate each other." I laughed. Was this some kind of match making? Or was it a rumor or a bad joke? "They're not dating; you must've heard it wrong."

Robin's brother; Chris; just pointed down towards the ground next to the high up porch. Leo and I leaned over the railings and both gasped; on the ground; right beneath us stood no other than Brooke and Liam… Smooching like there was no tomorrow.

 **Buttercup**  
After we had drank all our beers Liam wanted to take me outside so we could watch the fireworks together; he said there was something he wanted to tell me. We went out the back and Christopher and his friends was drinking and smoking at the porch and Liam said hi to them; but we didn't stay but continued down the long stair and walked a bit further so that we could talk in private.

"What is it?" I asked him; curiously. The three beers had made me a bit dizzy and warm but not that drunk.

"This is the only spot where we can talk; your sister has you under supervision in there." Said Liam and bobbed his head towards the house.

"Yes, I know. There hasn't been a chance for us to hang." I sighed.

"So now everyone in your family has got a taste of alcohol?" Liam grinned; but I was used to his jeers now and didn't view them as something bad any longer.

"Everybody except for the teetotaler Professor Perfect." I said acidly. "Are you sure there wasn't anything important you had to say?" I smiled hopefully; but stopped right after since I felt stupid doing so.

He caught up on my little smile and smiled back mischievously with heavy eyelids. "Can't I just stand here and talk to you?"

We hadn't actually… been with each other since that time in the boys' locker room; I had made myself clear on that because I wanted this relationship to revolve more about feelings than sex… but I haven't told Liam about that part. I guess I just want to make sure he isn't screwing with me – yeah, still – and I am so afraid that he will someday tell me that he had never felt anything for me… So I am keeping him on a short leash for the time being… pathetic, huh?

His smile said something whole different than just feelings. "Liam…" I smiled with my head tilted to the side. "Is that really the only thing on your mind?"

"No, but that was the _only_ thing I got before; and now it's the only thing I _don't_ get." He said and pretended to be sad. "It's a little bit frustrating; that's all."

"I can imagine…" I mumbled and remembered all of his previous FB's. "But if you're in love with someone then it isn't actually that hard to…"

I felt waves of chills throughout my body and shivers ran down my spine. I didn't say that… I did not just say that. It was the beer's fault that I had the courage to tell him this awfully embarrassing information!

Liam was just standing there and stared at me and I felt my hot face turning red. Then he smiled; wider than I had even seen him do my entire existence; with glowing green eyes. "Are you in love with me?" Here comes that stupid jeer I had hoped to never see again.

Yes! But I didn't say that out loud; not after only two weeks! It was only two weeks ago I found out that he liked me.

"I…"

For several months I had watched him; felt some sort of feeling bubble inside me that I hadn't felt before. But this was going too fast. He was the first guy making me feel this way – a feeling that was strange for me.

"I… uh…"

Every time I had seen him passing me in the hallway at school my heart had skipped a beat; shivers had spread through my body; my legs had gone soft like spaghetti.

I started sweating despite the winter cold. "Sorry…" I mumbled; I couldn't say it. "It was a mistake. It must've been the beer, I… just forget it."

Loud whistling; bangs and booms and bright, colorful lights made Liam and me to look up; beyond the silence of embarrassment. The clock had struck midnight so the fireworks around town had been lit.

"Hey, Brooke…" said Liam and broke the awkward silence between us. I awoke from the fireworks and found him standing only a *decimeter away from me and put his hands on my waist. "It was actually just what I wanted to talk to you about; I wanted to tell you that I'm in love with you too. Happy new year." And he kissed me like no one had ever kissed me before.

This kiss wasn't passionate nor meant for only one thing. It was loving and tender; gentle but with such force that proved that this was real. I tried to put so many unsaid words into the kiss; tried to show him; that through one kiss; that I loved him and that I had never felt for anybody what I felt for him.

 **Blossom**  
"Come on, wake up; it's only one minute 'til midnight!"

Dainton had fallen asleep again during another movie I tried to watch with him. His eyes popped open, sat straight up in the couch and looked around like there was an earthquake.

"Quick, hide! I heard that they just broke the door in upstairs!"

I looked at the ceiling and tried to listen; all I heard was a few explosions from some misguided fireworks. Some people just couldn't wait for the clock to strike midnight.

"Seriously now, Dainton; if we're not going outside right now we're going to miss everything. Come." I said and helped him out of the couch.

He stood up and began laughing and on the way to the living room he told me everything about the dream he had had about zombies.

"You play games too much, Dan." I laughed.

Once we arrived to their backyard his whole family stood there; his father Hank, baby sister Veronica and big sister Wendela with her fiancé Eric. Mr Hannigan was just about to lit one of the rockets only *ten meters from us, then he ran to us and was immediately hugged by little Veronica who seemed scared of the explosions.

"Ten… nine… eight… seven…" Wendela and Eric started while looking at Eric's clock.

"… six… five… four…" said mr Hannigan; his rocket had already flown away so he ran to the fence where all the other fireworks were to lit another one.

"… three… two… one…" said Dainton and I and he gave me a look that emitted warmth and love… and tiredness.

"Happy new year!" we all shouted together; even the neighbors around us were wishing everyone a happy new year.

Eric kissed Wendela and Dainton hugged and kissed me. "But it would've been more fun if you had just stayed awake." Said I with an accusatory finger towards Dainton.

"I was here at midnight; wasn't I?" Dainton grinned with his glasses crooked on his nose; he corrected them. "Come on; let's go to bed."

"Can't we just watch the fireworks for a bit?" I asked him chocked.

"We can see them from my bedroom. We do have an awesome view from there if we just pull the curtains aside.

/We sat down in Dainton's couch again in his bedroom; he put his arm over my shoulders. We were both quiet; watched, listened… Then he began snoring again. Even though I had no idea how he could fall asleep with all the bangs and explosions outside I let him be while I watched the dancing colors by myself.

 **Bubbles**  
We were thrown out (not really thrown but the party ended) of Robin's house half an hour after midnight. I flew Leo home.

"Thanks for tonight." I said and smiled at him outside his door.

"Thank you." We kissed.

"I'd really love to spend more time with you but I promised Professor to be home half past twelve…"

"I know", said Leo, "I promised mom and dad the same." It was so nice that he actually called them mom and dad.

He kissed me again, and just as he had closed the door I saw a green light that hadn't been a firework flying from the side of the house into the dark sky. It was heading towards my house and I followed it.

"Brooke!" I shouted and caught up with her as she slowed down.

"Oh, hi, Beccs! What's up?" Brooke said excitedly… a little too excited.

"Where have you been?" I asked; we stood still in the air.

"At Robin's; you saw me."

"Robin's house is that way." I said and pointed towards the city to my right. "You came from that way." I pointed behind me.

"I just took a detour."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Nah, I felt like flying; that's all. It's kinda' nice feeling the wind in your face, you know." She shivered from the cold air.

"Please; I _saw_ you, Brooke!"

"S-saw me?" she stammered.

"I saw you with Liam Berger!" I wheezed. "Why haven't you said anything? I thought you hated him!"

She gave me an angry glare but then her body softened. "Oh, well; why lie? Yeah… yes, that was me with Liam Berger…"

"When… how?"

"Please, don't tell anybody!" she pleaded. "We've been dating for a few months; since the fifth week after school started! And who are you to judge?" she said with a blaming finger. "You'd been crushing on Leo for a whole _year_ before you told us about him!"

"But I have seen the two of you… You've been fighting and… hating each other and…"

"Times change. I can explain further another day; we need to go home before Professor worries himself to death." Brooke said firmly and we flew home.

We thought we were going to get welcomed by a dark house once we landed on the driveway; but what we saw was just the opposite.

 **Buttercup**  
"Oh my gosh, what's going on in there?" Becca asked; surprised.

We stood in front of a house that didn't seem to be ours at all; it was white and square with three round windows like our house; but the windows in the kitchen and living room flashed in different colors and black silhouettes of people were dancing around inside them. Music was blaring through the neighborhood and toilet paper hung from a tree and was all over the roof.

"Do you think that Professor…" I started saying but couldn't finish my sentence… we walked into the house.

Wherever we looked we saw grownups that were dancing in party hats with and a drink in their hand; Mayor sat on the floor in the hallway, munching on grandma's cookies; miss Bellum danced with grandma in the living room; miss Keane (our old kindergarten teacher!) sat in a couch; laughing; and clinged on the town's handyman; mr and mrs Berger were cheering in another couch while almost all of our close neighbors shouted, laughed, drank and danced.

I looked for Professor everywhere and when I spotted him I just sighed… He stood on the balcony on the second floor looking down to the living room (with no pants and a lamp shade on his head), then he climbed over the railings and jumped.

Becca was just going to fly and save him when I stopped her. "Let him." I just said.

He landed safely in his chair and Becca looked at me. "Should we tell them to go?"

"Let them party; I bet it was a long time ago since they had this fun." I sighed again. "Fucking hypocrite." I mumbled as I saw Professor down an entire glass of wine.

Becca and I decided to at least help Professor and grandma to their beds (grandma was staying in Betty's room while she was visiting and Betty slept in Becca's); they'd drink too much already. I too felt a little bit drunk; but I had never danced around with a lamp shade on my head without pants and then jumped from the second floor into a chair.

Everybody seemed overjoyed seeing us; but we shook them all off and sooner or later we could go into our own rooms to sleep. The "roof was raising" all the way in on the early morning; the music wasn't turned off until four AM and that's when I could finally sleep.

/Just as I opened my eyes the following morning after a deep and dream less sleep I found myself face to face with a big pair of light blue eyes.

"My, god, Becca; you scared me." I mumbled sleeplessly. I rubbed my eyes and stretched and sat up in the bed.

"I need you to explain a few things. You promised to tell me today." Becca said serious.

"Tell… what? What time is it?" I asked her confused.

"Half past ten. Tell me now."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me why you were standing next to the porch smooching Liam last night! Or maybe you were too drunk to remember that?"

"Have you been sitting on my bed all morning waiting for me to wake up?" she kept staring at me; but curious this time. "Okay… I muttered."

I was hoping that last night had only been a dream. Not the kiss of course but that part where Becca discovered my secret.

I told her everything about me and Liam and lied about only a few things… I left the ball storage and the boys' locker room out and I told her that we had only pretended to hate each other so that nobody would find out about us. And I made it sound like we just all of a sudden fell in love with each other during a lengthy and secure process.

"So that's why he's nicer to us?" Becca asked; more to herself than to me.

"I guess." I shrug my shoulders. "But it all started _after_ that time he and Luke ruined our first dinner with Leo."

Then I told her everything about the plan Liam and Luke had in mind for us sisters; but tried to persuade her in the same way Liam had persuaded me. Of course it didn't work and she immediately dissuaded me to have any further business together with Liam Berger.

"The thing is that they thought Leo was in on it as well; but he had already stepped back without them knowing. Liam was the one to take his place and he backed out too."

"But..!" Becca tried dismayed.

"Wait! Listen… Just think about it; I've been with Liam almost as long as you've been together with Leo. Just think. Why can't it be Leo who wants to fool you, just as well? Or even both!"

"Because Leo and I are made for each other."

"Liam and I are also made for each other!" I laughed nervously. "Maybe both of them learned everything about us so that they could be our perfect matches. Don't you understand? Either both of them are messing with us or neither of them is!"

"Okay…" Becca muttered. "I actually trust Leo."

"I trust Liam." Did I really or was I just defending him for some reason?

"Good." Said Becca.

"Good." Said I.

Then she left my room with her chin in the air and I couldn't really decide if I had won or not.

 **Blossom**  
I couldn't have been more ready for school once it started the week after new year's eve; I had read all my latest notes (even though I didn't have to) and went to bed extra early the night before. I took my usual shower the morning after, ate breakfast with the towel around my hair, went into my room, got dressed and did my makeup. Then I did my hair and sat down in the kitchen again and read my notes over again.

Becca arrived seven o'clock with messy hair and pajamas and rubbed her eyes. She ate her breakfast and then went upstairs to take a shower.

Professor arrived to the kitchen half past seven and wondered why I was up so early and then he made himself a cup a coffee and a sandwich and went down to the basement where his laboratory is.

Quarter to eight Professor stood outside Brooke's bedroom and knocked on her door to wake her up and five minutes later he stood there again; banging on the door and told her that if she didn't get up soon she wouldn't do anything better in life than becoming a cleaning lady.

Five to eight he asked Becca and me to try and wake her up since he was going to the City Hall soon.

"I can take you there, dad." Becca offered; and I were left with the option to wake Brooke.

They left the house and I went up the stairs. Brooke didn't answer even when I knocked so I tried to turn the doorknob; but the door was locked. I sighed and flew out to look into her window. The window was opened ajar but she wasn't in her room…

That's weird… why would she lock the door and leave through the window?

 **Buttercup**  
I woke up early to fly home before anybody would notice I had spent the night at Liam's the night before school started; but since both Liam and I had a hard time waking up in the morning I didn't leave his house before eight o'clock and Liam was still sleeping when I left.

Once I arrived to the house Betty stood outside my bedroom window in the air, looking in. God, everybody is nosy all the time! I waited behind the neighbor's house until she was gone; and then flew to my window to open it.

"So where have you been?"

I turned around to face Betty who was hovering in the air with a firm expression in her face.

"Why?" I asked her breathlessly.

"Does Professor know that you haven't been home all night? Have you been partying again?"

"Of course I haven't! I just woke up early to do something…" my plan shuttered once it was shaping on my lips.

"Okay." She nodded with her arms crossed and flew down on the ground to walk into the house again.

 **Bubbles**  
I flew to Leo's house to get a ride in his car to school right after I had dropped Professor off at the City Hall. The day was fine; nothing special happened except for the new attendant in my class. His name is Zac Jones and is a kind of cute guy with black hair and glowing bright blue eyes. Brooke would have called him emo; with his long black hair hiding his face and black and red ripped clothes.

When the new kid introduced himself to the class he just stood in front of us all with his hair hiding his face and talked so quietly even I almost didn't hear him. He seemed really nervous and shy.

Afterwards he went to the far back of the classroom to sit down by himself and continued the class by looking out the windows.

/At lunch break I decided to make him feel safer around school; so I took Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica and Henrietta with me to the cafeteria to look for him. Leo was going to eat with Ginger's boyfriend Clyde and some other of their friends.

Zac was sitting all alone at a table in the middle of the canteen; apparently all the good tables along the sides were taken.

"Hi!" I said and reached out to shake his hand. "My name is Becca, you're in our class."

He looked up and glanced at me through his black hair curtain. "Hi… Zac."

Mathilda was up second to me to say hi and then Ginger, Jessica and Henrietta.

"Can we sit with you?" Mathilda asked him friendly.

"Sure." He mumbled.

We all sat down and looked a little regretfully on each other. He almost didn't say anything; how do you get to know a person if they don't talk?

"Where do you live, Zac?" I asked.

"I lived in Forestville before; but moved here a week ago."

"Forestville? Isn't that like really far away?" Henrietta asked.

"Yes…"

No wonder he was so shy; he had been living in the middle of the woods – *five mil away from nearest city – his entire life. Of course I didn't judge him; I was as shy as he was when I was alone…

"Then you attended Forestville or Farmsville High before?" said Mathilda; she seemed to like him, that's for sure.

"Yeah… Farmsville High." Zac turned his face down to his food again and started poking it with his fork.

That poor guy… Was he really that shy? Or was it only around girls? Because when Leo came to our table to say hi to the new kid he behaved much more relaxed.

"Zac; was it? Do you skate?" Leo asked, gave me a kiss, turned the chair between us so that the back of it was in to the table and sat backwards on it.

He had never behaved like that before and I stared at him; astonished. Maybe he just wanted to show Zac that he was secure enough to trust?

Zac shrugged his shoulders. "It happens. You?"

"You have the board with you?"

"No, it's at home."

"The school management let us build a skateboard ramp by the parking lot; but it won't work now that it's snowing. Come to the Skate House after school?"

Leo was just the best! But he always had that imprint on people; they liked him after only a few seconds of talking with him. That was because he was so kind, friendly, nice and funny, all at once! It was only the thing with the chair I didn't really get…

Zac immediately lit up. "Sure! I'll just pick up the board at home first!"

"Clyde, Simon and I will wait for you on the parking lot after four o'clock. See ya'!" Leo kissed me again, told me we were going to see each other in the last class and then left the canteen.

After that it was so much easier getting Zac to talk; but only small stuff like his hobbies is to skate, play computer games and that had two younger siblings.

 **Buttercup**  
There was some cute guy that had started to follow Becca home from school more and more often. His name was Zac Johnson… or Jones, something, and was new in our class. He seemed to be more buddy with Leo, but they were almost always at our house.

He said hi to me once; and now he is just ignoring me every time he passes me in the hall. But I don't really care… If he's too shy to say hi to me then he isn't worth wasting energy on, either!

*One decimeter = 3,9"  
*Ten meters = 32,9 feet  
*Five mil = (I have no idea but this is what Google gave me: ) 7.89141414 × 10-8 miles

Hello!  
I just want to say that I'm so sorry if it gets cringy to read this chapter! I had a really hard time translating this time but I don't know why… Maybe it's because I work so much nowadays and I'm too tired to think when I get home x)

Anyway! I also wanted to tell you guys that the next chapter will be a bonus chapter! So for my Swedish readers; if you've read the Swedish version already then the next chapter will be a big surprise for you as I actually just wrote it to tie everything together more in this trilogy!

Thank you for reading and please leave a comment, follow and favorite! : )


	13. Chapter 12 - Friends or Foes

Another shout out for Amuletx! I just wanted you to know that your comment really made my day! Heck, even my year! It was the nicest critic I have ever had on any on my stuff I've made myself : ) thank you so much and you said that Boomubbles was your favorite couple? Then you'll be up for a treat in this trilogy!

Thank you all for reading, commenting, following and favoriting!

 **Friends or Foes**

 **Bubbles**  
By the end of January Leo and I was going to celebrate our anniversary! It wasn't really a big anniversary but we were going to celebrate five months together. Time had really gone by fast and it still feels really weird to think that we had been dating for so long already.

The plan was that we were going to meet up at the parking lot after school where his white Skoda was; and afterwards we were going to drive into the city to just do something; end the night with a movie and a dinner at a nice restaurant. I felt annoyed over the fact that Leo wanted to pay for everything; considering I was soon going to have so much money we will never have to think about it ever again; but Leo is Leo so he refused to let me pay half, even.

The D-day was finally here and I walked over to the parking lot where Leo and Zac stood and talked; both leaning against the Skoda.

"Hi, honey!" said Leo and met me to give me a half hug and a kiss on my cheek.

"Hi." I replied and tilted to side to see around Leo. "Hey, Zac; what are your plans for today?"

Zac cleared his throat but Leo answered in his place. "He's coming with us to town."

"Okay." I just replied; but didn't think about it any further as Zac usually hang in the Skate House by himself the days we had other plans. At the same time I felt sorry for him… why didn't he like to be at home?

I sat shotgun with Leo and Zac jumped into the rear seat; then we drove out of the school area and were off to the city.

"Where are your brothers?" I asked Leo.

"They're both having practices." He replied and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll pick them up in an hour to give them a ride home afterwards."

"Okay…" this time I made my okay to sound like a question. So we were only going to have an hour to ourselves? Or are we going back to the city afterwards? "I just wanna' ask – and I don't mean anything by it – but why don't they have their own cars?"

"They had but they sold them…" Leo replied. "You're okay with that we're picking them up, aren't you?" Leo asked when he heard the tone on my voice.

I blinked a few times; I did actually behave sort of childish. "Yes, of course!" I quickly replied.

 **Blossom**  
Dainton and I had been together for a month and it actually felt like there hadn't been an intermission at all. Everything was normal again… everything. Nothing had changed at all; but I won't think along those lines again – Dainton and I were quite dissimilar but opposites attract, right? Maybe we didn't have the same interests and hobbies but who cares? I love Dainton and he loves me and that's what a relationship is all about, isn't it?

This Monday; January twenty-fifth, Dainton and I were – per usual – in his bedroom; me in his bed and he on his computer chair. He was playing his usual Zombie game and I was doing my homework.

When we had been silent for quite a while I put my books in the bag on the floor next to the bed. "Don't you want to cuddle for a bit?" I asked him loudly. "Or just talk."

"Yeah… sure." He replied monotonous. "Can I just finish? It'll take five minutes, tops. I swear."

"Do you really?"

"Do what?"

I sat up in bed; before I had been half sitting, half lying on his pillows. "Do you swear? Every time you say it'll only take five minutes it always takes more than five minutes."

Dainton fell silent and I looked at his monitor; tried to see what was so extremely interesting that made him lose all focus on what we were talking about. Why was that game so important for him? Did it have more stuff to say than I had?

Just as the last straw was being drawn I heard the oh, so familiar little song that plays every time his character dies and he turned the chair so that he could look at me. "I'm finished now." He said with a smile, walked towards me and jumped into the bed with me.

I giggled and crawled up to lie on his arm. "Did you die on purpose?" he nodded. "Thanks." I whispered.

He kissed me on my head. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

Even though we didn't have much in common, he is still my guy!

 **Buttercup**  
Once we finished practice the dance we were going to use when the football's team were having a game in the spring, the basketball team arrived to the sports center. Liam took the lead with the rest of the team behind him and he winked at me with a smile. I began walking towards the locker rooms with the squad behind me and Liam and I looked at each other all the way until we passed each other. We both looked back at the same time and his dark green eyes seemed to penetrate my entire soul. This secret relationship-thing is actually really exciting!

We had started having sex again. A lot. The passion between us was so intensive and it felt like we had known each other for a really long time even though it was only three months ago we had sex for the first time. It was like we had been searching for our other half since forever and finally found each other.

The passion and intensity… For the first time in my life I had discovered that even girls can be… quick. Quick to reach climax during sex. I mean; I had had sex before – with different guys – but… with Liam I was _fast_. It could take only seconds! It was something he did, something he was and something he smelled. He was simply perfect for me!

/"We heard about you and Liam." Robin whispered with a wide smile once I had closed the door to the locker room.

"Yeah! Tell us everything!" Tilly exclaimed and turned to me. "I didn't know if we could ask yet, but tell us!"

"What's with you and Liam?" Amber asked. The rest of the squad was watching us, curious.

I felt suction in my guts; felt how I was going to chicken out. "M-me and Liam?"

"Yes!" Tilly shouted; Robin tried to elbow her in the side but she playfully jumped away. "Are you dating now?"

"I, uh…"

"Are you and Liam dating?!" Heather exclaimed.

"What have we missed?!" Amber asked.

Everybody came to stand around me; so close it felt like the oxygen was running out. Sweat was crystallizing on my forehead and my whole face began feeling warm. What should I say? Wasn't it a secret that we were dating? Did Liam want others to know yet? I mean; both Robin and Tilly knew (Liam had probably told them every little detail down to every birth mark on my body) so why did they want to put me in the corner now? What did they want out of this?

Instead of getting angry I just shrugged my shoulders. "There's nothing between me and Liam; what do you expect of me?" I broke out of the pile of cheerleaders, sat down on a bench and started untie my shoes.

"No? But we heard…" Tilly started but I cut her off.

"We slept together once, nothing more."

"You slept together?! When?!" Amber shouted.

"I heard it was _several_ times…" Robin said quietly with one of her eyebrows raised.

"It's just sex; nothing more." I articulated.

"Are you sleeping with Liam?!" now it was Nathalie who got hysterical.

"Yes, but that's it so stop screaming!" I hushed them.

Robin sat down next to me. "I thought you liked each other."

"Is that what Liam told you?" I asked with my eyebrow raised; tried to sound unaffected. "Oh well, it wasn't my intention to mislead the guy." My god, what a bitch I am… "But that was it." I gave them all a firm glare. "Don't go around spreading rumors. You don't have to say anything at all… whatsoever." I looked at Robin and Tilly when I said that. "There is _nothing_ between Liam and me."

At the same exact moment my cellphone made a message sound and I pulled it out of my bag to see who it was who sent the text. Inappropriately enough it was of course Liam who wrote…

 _You'll come over to my place after my practice, right? ; )_

He wrote that with a blinking smiley at the end.

Before I was able to hide the message I glanced at Robin who looked at me with something judging in her face. She was waiting for me to reply to him. For some reason I felt the pressure; that fucking pressure I was hoping to never feel again. What was it with me?

 _Whatever._

I just wrote back and pressed send. Robin rolled her eyes, rose up and walked into the shower room without taking her clothes off.

"Well? Was it him?" Tilly asked excitedly.

"No." I answered angrily, pulled on my shoes again and flew out before anybody had the time to ask any more unnecessary questions.

 **Bubbles**  
Leo behaved sort of weird today but I didn't really get a chance to ask him about it. During the forty minutes we had before he was going back to school again and pick his brothers up he talked nonstop with Zac. It felt a little bit like I wasn't even there and once it was time to go again he asked me if I wanted to come with.

"Or will you wait here?"

I just got shocked over the fact that he even _asked_ me and replied with: "No, I'll come with you."

"Okay." Leo smiled and started walking; kind of fast; towards the exit without taking my hand like he use to do. "See you soon, Zac."

"Bye." Zac said.

"Good bye, Zac!" I said quickly before I had to run to keep up with Leo who had started to walk faster without waiting for me.

I wanted to ask him if he had forgotten everything about our five month anniversary today but I didn't know how… and did I really _want_ to know what was wrong if there was something? What if he… what if he wanted to break up with me; but didn't know himself how to bring it up?

I glanced at him where he walked with his hands in his pockets and just stared straight forward; I tried to get his attention but he never caught up on that; so I continued just staring straight forward as well.

/We drove in silence the five minutes it took to school and Luke and Liam already stood at the parking lot, waiting for us. It has started to snow again so both had their hoodies on. They quickly jumped into the car.

"Could you scoot forward a bit?" Leo asked me when he noticed that Liam had to fuss his way into the car behind my seat.

"Oh… certainly…" I whispered and scooted. Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? Well, it was my first time alone with the Berger brothers… why that would matter now.

We were all quiet during the ride to the Berger's house and when we rolled up to the driveway Luke said: "Thanks for the ride." While Liam just stepped out without saying a word.

I was just going to confront Leo but he said: "I'm just gonna' go in for a bit but I'll be quick, okay? You can wait here." Once again I couldn't speak out of shock and just stared at him. "I'll leave the motor running to keep the warmth that's why I'm asking if you'll wait in the car?"

"Yes… okay." I replied.

"Good! It ain't take long!"

His smile didn't really reach his eyes and he behaved so weird… so different. Something grabbed my guts and seemed to try and scratch their way out of my mouth… it felt like I wanted to throw up. Something was wrong.

 **Blossom**  
The time was seven PM when we decided to end the day; I was going home to eat dinner with my family and then turn in early – Mondays were always the most energy stealing days for some reason… So after dinner I did what I had promised myself and laid down in my bed at seven-thirty PM; but instead of trying to sleep (it would probably have been impossible) I began reading an old book I hadn't flipped pages in for almost a year. It was a book Joemel Lee had written; a little bit like a self-biography.

Joemel Lee was a clothes designer and in his book he described how his interest for fashion started and what he did to get as famous as he was today. The best thing about Joemel Lee was that he originally came from Townsville; that's why he was the most interesting person in fashion.

I hadn't told anybody that I secretly always wanted to become a fashion designer. Not that it was embarrassing or anything; I just hadn't really… wanted to… tell anybody. My family and friends already knew I liked fashion and rather bought something expensive than ordinary; it was only the part where I myself wanted to design clothes that was secret. It was my thing – that's why I hadn't told anybody; nobody really had to know.

Joemel Lee kept me awake the two hours it took to finish the book and after I had put it away I closed my eyes. That night I dreamt that I was a famous fashion designer that made clothes especially for cats… hm, at least it's something!

 **Bubbles**  
Leo began driving towards town again and I just sat quiet next to him, staring straight forward through the windshield. I wasn't going to be the one breaking the silence and Leo seemed to think along the same lines as me. I glanced at him to see if his face was hiding anything… but I saw nothing.

Sooner or later we were outside the Skate House again and Leo turned the engine off. "So, what do you wanna do?" he asked me without looking at me.

I shrugged my shoulders; if I had opened my mouth to say anything I would have started to cry.

Leo stepped out of the car, walked around to the passenger side of it and stopped outside my door. He confused me – now all of a sudden he wanted to be close to me. He even surprised me by taking my hand while walking to the Skate House together. Actually I didn't care anymore where we were going; he had taken my hand so now it felt like nothing else mattered anymore… clutching to straws.

/Zac was still in the Skate House somewhere; I noticed his jacket in the entry; otherwise it was empty and spookily quiet.

"Where is everybody?" I asked; my voice sounded rugged after the long silence.

Leo looked at me with a wide smile and shrugged his shoulders. Oh, that..! He had planned something and only made it seem like his was going to break up with me or something.

I let out a relieved breath and felt my legs going soft underneath me while my head was spinning. The panic I had tried to contain was finally released and Leo grabbed me just before I sat down on the floor.

"Do you need to sit down? Water?" he asked me nervously.

"No, I'm fine now." I replied.

He led the way to the arena, as it was called, and was a big room with high ceilings. The floor was uneven and bumpy – because it was a Skate House. It was truly enormous and it was dark…

"Sit." Said Leo simply and sat me down on a chair by one of the small cafeteria tables just inside the door. "Zac?" he shouted and raised one of his thumbs towards a windows *ten meters up on the wall where the control room was and I spotted Zac; with a pair of headphones on his head; and with a wide smile he raised his thumb as well.

"Oh, my gosh, no!" I laughed. "What in the world is this?"

A song was heard from the speakers and the spotlights let colorful lights glide around us in the big room; I hadn't heard the song before but it was a man that sang – a love song of course. I looked up at Leo who stood in front of me with his hand reached out to me.

"Wanna' dance?" he asked me with a crooked smile.

"What is this?" I asked again, took his hand and stood up from the chair.

"We never got to celebrate our four months anniversary since Him had other plans for us that day. So now it's double up… hope you like it."

"I love it." I said; didn't say anything about how excessive this all actually was… it was so romantic even I forgot about that part.

"Good. Just don't let it become a habit." He joked and leaned down to kiss me. "Happy anniversary."

 **Buttercup**  
I had stayed awake for the bigger part of the night and thought about what happened yesterday. I started having panic again – the panic that emerges when you're feeling smothered! Why, all of a sudden? My friends only wanted to know a few details about the guy I like; and I make a total U-turn and tell them I _don't_ like him? I really couldn't get my thoughts to agree with my feelings and that was why I felt so tired the next day at school.

Liam didn't show up to the first class – but he usually never did – and I didn't see him all morning. It was at lunch I bumped into him and he stopped me just as I was going to a table in the cafeteria with a tray in my hands.

"Hey, what happened yesterday?" he asked me with a firm grip of my arm.

I was looking around and threw a hasty glance towards Tilly who was heading straight for us and I pulled away from him. "What are you talking about?" I snorted and started walking again.

Liam took the tray from my hands and put it down on the closest table. "What's up?" he asked a bit quieter; his facial expression revealed that he was on the verge of getting irritated.

The panic intensified inside of me – students had stopped and they all stared at me; hungered for an answer on his question. This must be the biggest of all news ever on this school – Brooke Utonium in love with Liam – former Butch – Berger; the cheerleader and the basketball team captain; the two sworn enemies united.

And a week later they will all laugh at her because he was only messing with her feelings…

"What?" I blurted out.

"Well; did something happen between us?"

"Like what?" I asked with a derisive laughter.

"For a whole month we've been acting like boyfriend and girlfriend and now all of a sudden you're ignoring me?" I just shook my head – couldn't utter a word. "Robin told me about what you said yesterday." His voice flickered a little.

"Yeah?" my back felt sweaty.

"Yeah? Was it true or not?" he sounded angry.

Wherever I turned I only saw curious eyes looking at me; staring at me; taunting me… I did the only thing I knew – to shut all doors and run.

That jeering laugh was forcing its way up my throat again. "Yes, it was true. What did you expect? That we were – what was it you said – boyfriend and girlfriend? Pfft! We slept with each other and that was it; it wasn't my intention to put whims in your head. I do admit that it wasn't on purpose to mislead you or whatnot; so I apologize for that."

My heart was pounding against my chest and ribs and I regretted every word I said! But it was like someone controlled my lips and my voice – I couldn't do anything to stop it! What am I doing?

Liam crossed his arms over his chest while nodding and rolled his eyes; laughed quietly and gnawed on the inside of his lip. "Okay." He breathed. "As you wish. We were just fooling around and that was it, right?"

"Yes." My mouth arrogantly replied while my head shouted no.

Without another word he turned around and left the cafeteria.

I turned to Robin who had the same judging face as she had had the night before; but instead of yelling at her – something I thought I would have done at this moment – I just sighed and sat down at an empty table and didn't say another word for the rest of the lunch break.

 **Blossom**  
Mindy and I walked through the hallway between classes and was just going to stop by the lockers to put away some of our books before going to the cafeteria. I hadn't seen Dainton during the day but he was probably waiting for me under our usual tree; we weren't going to sit there this lunch break (because of the winter) but we always met under it.

Once again I saw Olivia walking from the lockers in the hallway and just as she was passing us Mindy mercilessly exclaimed: "You lost, slut. Leave the relationship stuff to the grownups, kiddo."

Even though it was really mean of Mindy – and something I would never dream of her to say to anybody – I burst out in laughter and couldn't stop until we had hit the lockers.

"You are so mean, you know that?" I said when I calmed down enough.

"She had that coming! For real!" said Mindy and opened her locker.

"Yes… she did." I agreed and looked to my left as a movement had caught my attention.

During the laughter session I hadn't noticed that Luke stood by his locker; the locker neighboring mine; and he shut the locker door since he was finished. He looked up from his football bag and saw me, stiffened with his red eyes glued on me. Now that we were so close to each other I noticed he was taller than me even though I've always seen him as short.

"Hi." I finally said; didn't know if we were going to be nice to each other or not. He didn't really seem interested in a friendship during Christmas.

"Hi." He replied.

It was so weird to see him being so calm and almost… nice… in school of all places. In other aspects he actually looked kind of horrifying with his big muscles; sharp jaws and red eyes; that's why the image of him as friendly made me doubt on our future friendship. What did we really have in common?

"Did you have a nice Christmas break?" I asked him anyway.

"Yeah… it was fine." He replied. "You?"

"Yes… it was okay… What class do you have after lunch?"

"History."

"Me too."

"Okay…

That embarrassing silence that makes you want to sink through the ground accrued and we just stood there, nodding awkwardly at each other.

"See you then." I said quickly and threw on an unsure smile.

"Yep." He replied with a just as fake smile as I had and went past me; then he half jogged through the hallway towards the exit.

"That wasn't awkward at all." Said Mindy with wide eyes. "What was that about?"

"I don't know." I sighed and leaned against my locker. "It's gotten so… awkward; you know… between us after what happened… are we going to become friends; will we not?"

"You're not in love with him, are you?"

"Mindy!" I said accusatory.

"I know, I know! I just mean that we would have a problem if that was the case!"

"I'm with Dainton." I muttered.

"I know." Mindy smiled teasingly. "You like his smile, don't you?"

"His dimples are _so_ deep!" I moaned and started walking towards the cafeteria with Mindy.

"I know! For being him he kinda' has a gorgeous smile; almost that he gets ten extra attractive points only for the smile."

Luke's smile was the topic for the day and that was kind of strange; but fun at the same time as it was the first time we ever had anything nice to say about him.

 **Buttercup**  
In history class I was just quietly looking out the window whiles the teacher rabbited on about something uninteresting. I hadn't talked to anybody since Liam disappeared at lunch but didn't really feel to start now either. I had finally fallen down in that pit I had feared since Tilly opened her mouth yesterday after practice; the pit I was never going to be able to climb out of. It was the whole deal with me being too cowardly to admit that I actually liked the guy! Half of me wanted to trust him and love him whilst the other half just wanted to flee from everything… What if he actually was messing with me – as he said he and Luke originally was going to do? What if I had just dodged a bullet now by ignoring him at lunch? What if I had won now?

What if I had lost?

"It's game time this weekend!" Tilly whispered excitedly next to me.

I looked her way and followed her eyes through the window; a few guys from the basketball team were playing with a basketball outside – and Liam wasn't one of them.

/Let's fast forward the week until we reach the weekend because I hadn't done anything at all than moping and hoping that Liam would call me; since I was a coward and for some reason wanted him to prove to me that he didn't mess with me… That was the reason I didn't call him; it was like he convinced me that I was right by shutting up and let me sulk.

The days went by fast and we followed the basketball team to Seattle (the football team would have their game at home next month.) We practiced one last time in the locker room on one of our old dances because I had been so unfocused this past week; but no one contradicted.

When it was only a few minutes left before we would run out to the stadium Robin pulled me aside. "It's starting to get ridiculous for real now; you need to talk to Liam." She wheezed.

"Why would I talk to him?" I wheezed back.

"Because you're in love with him of course!"

"Pshaw!"

I was just about to walk away when she used force for the first time and pushed me against a wall. What stopped me from getting angry was the shock that she actually had the courage to do so – a weak, puny human against a failed lab experiment.

"Don't play stupid, Brooke! I've noticed how depressed you've been without him this week! You can't hide anything from me!"

"Why do you even care?" I asked her unwary.

"Because I can't stand seeing you like this. Both of you. You're both my best friends; you more of course; but Liam too. Do you not understand how much you destroyed him that day?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I know you've seen them together since they've been dating for a couple of days already!"

My heart seemed to skip a beat. "Is Liam dating?"

"Uh, hello? Haven't you seen them? He's openly walked around school, showing himself with Ashley under his arm!"

"Ashley? _That_ Ashley?"

Ashley Green was Jake's big sister and the biggest slut in school. If it wasn't enough that she was super popular and superhot (but I wouldn't imagine anything else as Jake is superhot too) but she was also tall as all hell… of course she's more fitting for Liam – the tallest guy in school.

"Yes! I just can't believe you didn't know that! And you need to do something about it before it's too late!"

My arrogant Self visited again. "Let him have her; I don't care." I said.

"But you do; I can see it. Brooke, you'll lose Liam to Ashley Green; is that what you want?"

"Yes." I shrugged my shoulders and listened to the commentator who had just shouted out our names. "Come on, we need to support our team."

"Brooke…"

"Isn't it obvious that he's moved on?" I snapped.

"Do you remember the party at my house? The one where you slept with Jake?" Robin asked all of a sudden.

"How's that relevant?"

"Do you remember it or not?" I shrugged my shoulders for what felt as the tenth time with wide eyes. "Has Liam told you that he didn't sleep with Tilly that night?"

"Yes? He only told her to say…"

"And then he left. You broke him that night!"

"Oh, yeah; I really broke him, did I?" I said sarcastically; I remember that night just as well as Robin did. "He was so broken he got to another, bigger party in Citiesville."

"Was that his excuse?" Robin blurted out as if she stumbled on her words. "He didn't go to Citiesville!"

"So where did he go?"

"Home! Of course he didn't want you to know that! And you know what more? He came to my house later that night; three AM; high as a highway! He'd been taking drugs, that son of a bitch!"

"What kind of drugs?" I asked, worried.

"Crack! Meth! How the hell should I know? I don't know any drugs but I know they were serious!"

"Why did he go to you?"

"He wanted to talk to my brother; Liam said that he was chased by a devil and a grasshopper or a cricket or whatever… but whatever!" Robin sighed. "The thing is that he is so fucking in love with you, Brooke… and you're in love with him."

The audience was shouting and whistling. "They're waiting for us." I said and walked past her out of the locker room.

We ran out on the floor with me in the lead and we stood in position. Robin jogged along in behind me and discretely pointed towards the platform and the dark part of the benches in front of them where the basketball team sat and waited for their turn. I followed her finger and spotted Liam on the far right on the bench; but he didn't even look my way. In his lap sat no less than Ashley Green; with her long dark blonde hair, long legs and long eye lashes; clinging on the man of my dreams. Robin was right. I really had no clue; if she hadn't said anything then I would have been happy unknowingly… But now I knew and saw it with my own eyes.

Ashley and Liam looked away from each other and towards us and once the lights went out and the music started Liam's and my eyes locked – we couldn't tear ourselves from each other. Ashley's dark blonde hair obscured Liam's face because she had bent down to start making out with him.

While I was boiling inside I looked at Robin behind me and who gave me an I-told-you-so-look; now I had had enough! "Wait!" I shouted, flew to the commentator and took the microphone from him.

The lights turned on, the music stopped and every person in the room was looking directly at me. It wasn't only Robin and Tilly; not only Liam and Ashley; not only the commentator and the referee and coach Terrence that had their eyes glued on me; it was the whole audience too – both from Townsville and Seattle – and my entire family; Professor, Betty and Becca and Leo – everybody was staring at me and waited for me to say anything into the microphone.

I took a deep breath – here goes nothing! "Hi, my name is Brooke Utonium and is the captain of Townsville's cheerleading squad." I heard Jake shout something from the sea of people and someone whistled. "Thanks… That guy there", I pointed towards Liam and the guy in the control room pointed at him with a spotlight, "his name is Liam Berger; the captain of Townsville's basketball team and I have something to tell him if it's not too much to ask…" I took another deep breath and looked straight at Liam. "That thing I told Robin and Tilly in the locker room; and that thing I told you in the cafeteria; is not true. I know I said it was; but it's not. It was as far from the truth it could go. Actually… it's the most terrible lies I have ever told anyone."

I glanced towards the middle of the floor where Robin smiled widely and showed me both thumbs up. My heart was pounding against my chest as if I had been running several miles but it felt so good!

I continued turned to Liam. "I'm sorry, Liam, for what I said. I panicked… you know me; I wasn't thinking clearly but I do now. I regret everything I said that day. Can you forgive me?"

Ashley; who still was sitting in Liam's lap; laughed at me and looked at him; I heard her say: "Is she fucking serious?"

My courage sank when I didn't get any direct response from him but I wasn't really done yet. "There's a thing I would like to admit; and that is that I… love… you." Robin and Tilly gasped and the same did my sisters. "Yep; me; Brooke Utonium; love Liam Berger. Does anyone have anything to say about that?"

Robin started cheering and clap her hands and Jake and Tilly joined; but since this wasn't a movie the rest of the audience sat quiet and indifferent; even a little irritated.

But what happened instead was that Liam rose up without even thinking about the consequences of that – Ashley fell down on the floor in the movement – and headed to me. "You're a fucking idiot." He said with a smile when he reached me.

"Can I be your girlfriend?" I asked him.

"Sure, Love; but you'll owe me one."

"Anything at all." I promised. "I meant everything I said; I love you."

"You already knew that I love you too, right?" he teased; now he stood only a *few decimeters away from me and was towering over me.

"I had a hunch."

Liam leaned down, put both his hands softly on my back and his lips tightly on my lips. I threw my arms around him and kissed him back and now the whole audience started to cheer. We let go of each other but instead of walking away Liam lifted me up and spun around with me in his arms – that made the audience to cheer even harder.

"Let's beat Seattle!" Liam shouted to our side and they screamed louder than ever and whistled. "I love you." He told me one last time… for now.

"I know." I replied. "I love you."

"I know."

The music started and I ran to my spot in the far front of the squad; neither Liam nor I could stop looking at each other the entire dance.

*Ten meters = 32,9 feet  
*A few decimeters = 8 and more inches

This was the fresh and new bonus chapter! And consider it _stupidly_ fresh as I originally finished this book three years ago and _started_ writing it in 2005!  
And just a reminder; you will get a trilogy of this story and I really hope you'll like it as much as I do!


	14. Chapter 13 - Be my Valentine

**Be my Valentine**

 **Blossom**  
Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Dainton haven't told me anything about any plans; but I expect him to make the day really romantic (he promised me).

Luke and I said hi to each other now whenever our paths crossed between classes, but I didn't really feel like hanging out with him and his football buddies yet… at least we say hi to each other.

Liam was never looking my way and whenever I said hi to him he raised his eyebrow and greeted me back with an indifferent "hey" – like he just couldn't believe I had the guts to talk to him. And he and Brooke are never at our house so I only see him a few times a week in school. But that's actually fine; I've always thought of him as the strangest brother of the three. But I was just wondering… maybe he would be a bit nicer now since he is dating my sister and all? Oh well…

Leo is still perfect. We were becoming more and more friends each day; and he and Becca were so perfect and cute together it felt like he would soon propose to her! I wonder if they want to go on a double date with us on Valentine's Day? No! No… Dainton is planning something amazing and I will not ruin it!

 **Buttercup**  
Everybody in school now knows about me and Liam. Betty got really surprised, but she mostly hid her reaction of it… I don't know why, really. Professor said that maybe we were good for each other and didn't say much more about it. When he found out that Liam wasn't that good in school he said that maybe I could help him with that. But what should I do? I am just as dumb as he is!

/The weekend before Valentine's Day we were in his bedroom in the basement, hanging out. Sure; I'm not one of those _lovie-dovie_ , romantic chicks, you know? But this was my first Valentine's day together with a guy… aren't you supposed to spend that day only with him? Liam was going to have the entire house for himself that weekend since his parents were going on a romantic cruise ship; that meant that he was going to host a Valentines party.

So I was laying there in his bed, thinking, while he lay next to me also thinking; but the difference was that he was thinking about what kind of booze he wanted to buy to his party.

"Why are you so quiet?" he asked me after a while.

"Why are _you_ so quiet?" I countered.

He chuckled and we both fell silent again; but he turned from his back to his side and rested his head in his hand. I didn't want to look at him; I was mad but didn't want to admit it.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing…" I mumbled; tried to smile.

"Okay." He said and turned around again to grab something from the shelf under his side table.

"Hey, what's that?" I asked. I had noticed something I had never seen before; something red and black popped up from under the collar in his tight, white t-shirt.

"What?" He asked and sat up with a magazine in his hand.

"Turn around." I commanded him and pulled the fabric down in his neck. "Is that the tattoo you were talking about after the Yule ball? I thought you were kidding."

I analyzed the tattoo he had in his neck just under the collar – a red devil with a black M on his forehead. How could I have missed it? Well I didn't spend much time looking at his _back_ when I had his face and abs in plain sight. "What does the M stand for?"

Liam stiffened for a split second but replied with: "Mentone. It's a village near Fort Davis. The guy that did the tattoo lived there and wanted a capitol M anywhere on his tattoos."

"Why not the first letter of his name?"

"I don't know. I mean; he did tattoos on under aged kids; so I guess he was pretty strange actually."

I nodded my head and sank down between the pillows and the cheats again; deadpanned.

"What? Don't tell me you have something against tattoos?" he laughed.

"No. It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"Valentine's day…" I whispered.

Liam was quiet for a bit; as if he was trying to understand what it was I wanted. "Yes?" he finally said patiently.

"I mean… don't you wanna… do something… with me only?" I felt so vulnerable and naked at that moment; he was the one holding the whip now and it felt wrong!

"Oh, Love…" he mumbled patronizingly in his cutest voice and caressed the top of my belly with his fingertips. "I have the entire house for myself; a perfect opportunity to celebrate freedom!"

"The _two_ of us can celebrate freedom in another way…" I said sly and rolled on top of him.

"We do that anyway…" but he smiled and looked like if that idea wasn't better.

I didn't want to nag him about it, I wanted him to want it himself… but if the party is so much more important, then… I rolled off of him again and lay next to him, but he didn't want to leave me alone so he rolled on top of me instead.

"You'll have your alone time with me when everybody's gone home for the night." He was just about to kiss me when I turned my face away.

"Yeah? Once you're knocked out after all the alcohol?"

"Of course not! Stop being silly; do you actually think I'd rather drink that much than to spend time with you?"

"No. But that's how it is."

"It'll be fun. Please. What if we have a party? We'll celebrate Valentine's day together… with other people who also celebrate that day. What if there are others there too?"

"Never mind." I tried to fake a smile and he bought it; either he was the biggest moron in the world or he only pretended that everything was fine because he just wanted to get his way.

 **Professor**  
07:25 AM. Woke up.  
07:30 AM. Made coffee and a sandwich.  
07:40 AM. Started up the lab.  
11:45 AM. Made lunch.  
12:20. PM. Went down to the lab to continue what I did before.  
03:50. PM. Cleaned the house.  
05:45. PM. Cooked dinner.  
06:25. PM. Lab again.  
11:55. PM. Bedtime.

Same show day after day. Sigh.

 **Bubbles**  
We usually notice very clearly when Valentine's day is getting closer in the house. It's not the decorations Betty and I hang up; and not the cozy sentiment Dainton usually brings with him – so does Leo nowadays – but it's the depressing shadow of Professor who just walks around the house like a zombie and do his shores without whistling, singing or talking. I don't think that he even notices that he's getting depressed; but we do. Every year.

Poor Professor… He feels lonely on such a romantic occasion and nobody should!

When I didn't have Leo in my life I wasn't depressed; but that was because I had never tried this love thing before. Professor had never told us this himself; but grandma once told us that he fell in love several years ago; long before we were born; to a woman that he wanted to marry. But she left him for another man; on Valentine's Day; and that's why it's so hard for him to trust women and is especially upset around this time of the year.

This year he was extra sad because now he was the only one in the family who didn't have a partner. Betty, Brooke and I agreed on that we wasn't going to invite our boyfriends home over the next few days the closer we got to the… day… for Professor's sake.

So one day, after school, I asked Zac if Leo and I could hang out at his place; but he acted so… strange. He didn't really answer the question; just:

"… the Skate House. Can't we just go and skate today?"

"I couldn't stand still on a skateboard even if I tried, Zac."

We were walking side by side through the hallway and to the classroom where Leo had his last class for the day; we were going to wait for him outside.

"But you and your friends don't mind sitting in the café and watch us either? You usually do that."

"Yeah, but… I want to see how you live." I threw him a wide and enthusiastic smile.

"Hm… well…" he sounded strained and pressured. "But I wanna skate today."

Zac sped up so that he could stand outside the door of Leo's classroom and thus concluded the discussion. The more I got to know him the weirder he got.

 **Blossom**  
The night before Valentine's day I was at Dainton's, watching The Notebook – the most romantic movie in the world. He fell asleep all the time of course but I didn't really care; as long as I could hold his hand and lean on his shoulder.

When the outro was showing on the screen I woke Dainton up; it was running late and I had to go home soon. "Dainton… what are we going to do tomorrow?" I felt so curious I couldn't stand it anymore and seized the opportunity when he was still tired.

"Tomorrow? At Valentine's day?" he mumbled without opening his eyes.

Damn. "Yes…"

"Hm… don't you want it to be a surprise?"

"Yes, of course I want it to! I was just thinking… is it still a surprise if you invite other people in? I was thinking of Becca and Leo."

"Don't you want to be with just me?" he whispered and started nibbling my neck.

"Yes", I giggled, "then don't mind what I said, then. But I should really go now; its half past eleven and it's a school night. I promised Professor to be home before he goes to bed."

"Aw… can't you sleep over?" Dainton yawned and hugged me tighter; as if he didn't want to let me go.

"I'll come over in the morning before you wake up; so you can wake up with me in the bed next to you. How does that sound?"

"Perfect!"

I loved this guy and had already forgotten why we broke up before.

 **Buttercup**  
I woke up around seven thirty the Thursday that fell on the fourteenth of February. Valen-fucking-tine's Day. The day you should be extra in love and do something special for the person you love; but I – I'm going to attend a party; a party full of single people celebrating being single and will do anything to hook up with each other.

I mean, sure; Liam wasn't used to having only one girl at a time – we had only been dating for two months and that was the longest any of us had ever been in a relationship before – but doesn't that mean that he should be caring a lot more about it this year?

I feel that way at least. I don't want to be around other people right now; only with him. Just the two of us; alone; without a bunch of drunk people. But I had promised myself to please him… who knows – maybe he'll be extra sweet now that everybody knows that we're dating?

 **Bubbles**  
Panic! Panic…

Brooke and I flew together to school. Leo was sleeping in and Liam didn't seem to want to wake up at all today. Betty was already at school; she had been at Dianton's house early this morning so he probably gave her a ride.

I was thinking about tonight and felt extremely anxious. Leo and I had been dating for half a year now and hadn't… well… had sex yet. Not once. We've been close to once, but we were both too nervous to proceed. And now it's Valentine's Day and I really feel the pressure!

I don't think that I'm going to be bad at it, I mean; none of us had done it before so we don't have anything to compare with. But I still want it to be special; I want to be the best. Actually; this day doesn't have to mean that it's going to be _the_ _day_ , but will a better opportunity ever going to show up?

I won't put too much energy on this… it'll come when it comes.

"What kind of underwear are you supposed to wear?" was my very first panicked question to my friends when I saw them walking towards me and the couches at the end of the corridor.

"What?" Henrietta laughed.

"I know what she means..." Mathilda sighed serious, sat next to me in the couch and put her arm around me, making me lean against her. "Come here, sweetie."

Mathilda was the only one in the gang who had ever been with a guy before, so she knew exactly what I was talking about.

"It's about time you guys started thinking about this. Okay… I have never been in a serious relationship before; but once you are, I guess that the underwear doesn't matter at all. You understand? I don't think he's expecting to see you in a sexy little teddy; he'll be happy whatever you wear."

"Or _don't_ wear!" Jessica teased.

"Shut up!" Ginger whispered – she was as curious as the rest of us considering she is in a fresh relationship herself, with Leo's best friend Clyde.

"You should ease into it." Said Mathilda. "One button at a time – get it?"

"Yes…" I embarrass mumbled.

"But if it feels wrong then you should just stop; because it won't be fun if you don't like it. It should feel just right or you just save it for another time."

"Fun?" asked Ginger.

"Yes, of course you need to have fun as well! It shouldn't be only seriousness and stiff; you need to ask each other stuff all the time – if it feels good, if you should do it in another way – and you should laugh! Have fun and have a good time at the same time." Mathilda continued.

We sat glued onto every word she uttered around the couch and I was dearly hoping that nobody was eavesdropping.

"And, Becca; underwear… We can go shopping after school." Mathilda turned to Ginger. "You're coming too."

"Me?"

"Aren't you and Clyde ready yet?"

"We've only been dating for two months…" Ginger muttered and her cheeks turned red. "But I can still come with and help Becca…"

"We don't need to buy you anything if you don't feel that you're ready." I whispered as I felt my own face starting to glow.

"Good! Then Henrietta and Jessica are going too!" Mathilda laughed. "We're going to have so much fun!"

 **Buttercup**  
I missed Liam during the first class at the same time I was mad at him. I was going to have the most boring night tonight but I still wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before it was too late – before the… party started.

The school bell rang and it was time for the next class. Betty and Becca went to the lockers to fetch their books while I headed to the next class that was math; I had all I needed in my bag and wasn't in the mood to go back and forth so much.

"… faggot…" I heard someone laugh in the hallway in front of me that was empty because all the other students had gone to their lockers.

"Why are you wearing such stupid clothes?" another guy asked.

Thinking it was only a bunch of friends goofing around I didn't really look at them; but when I did my eyes widened. It was four guys from the basketball team who were pushing the new kid – Zac Jones – between them… of course they bullied the new kid. At first I got mad and was just about to say something when I got even madder than before – Liam was one of them and he pushed Zac so hard he stumbled into the wall, back first.

"You little punk…" I growled, flew towards Liam and stopped only *a decimeter from his face. "What the hell did you do?"

"What the fuck? It's only an emo, why…"

"Why I defend him? Because you act like the biggest asshole on this planet in front of your asshole friends! What did he do to you?"

"Well someone needs to start if that sentence even would make-"

I cut Liam off by pushing him against the wall in the same way he'd pushed Zac. His friends backed away from me. "Is that sentence making any sense now? You started and I fought back!"

"What the fuck, Brooke?" he shoved me away with his arm and looked at me; both furious and disappointed – as if he couldn't believe that I would ever treat him that way. "You've never cared before?"

"Well I do now 'cause now you're _my_ responsibility."

"Your responsibility?" Liam jeered.

"Just go, Liam. Go and skip classes or something. I won't let you do stuff like this anymore. Just because I'm your girlfriend now doesn't mean you have a free pass."

Liam kept staring at me but left Zac and me with his friends behind him. I watched the back of his head until they disappeared behind the corner and then turned to Zac. "Are you okay?" I asked him thoughtfully; still had Liam's disappointed face in my mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for helping me…"

"No problem… Are you having math now?"

"Yes…" Zac fell silent for a bit, looked like he was wondering about something. "Is that guy seriously your boyfriend?"

My defense stung me a little but I remembered the party he was going to have tonight and replied with: "Surely not for long; he's behaving like an idiot most of the time."

Zac pushed aside his hair from his face and revealed his eyes for the first time; and even though I saw them for just a split second I noticed they were glowing ice blue… so beautiful… they left me breathless. But before I had time to think anything more about them the door to the classroom opened and more people from our class came walking towards us.

/"What was that all about?"

I was leaving the gymnasium after practice when I heard Liam above me who sat in the big tree outside. Without looking up or stop I just said: "Robin just sprained her foot, but it'll get better in just…"

"I mean earlier today, outside the classroom." I heard a thud behind me and felt a hand on my shoulder. Liam turned me around to face him. His face just couldn't have looked more upset; a sharp lump was forming in my throat when I saw him. "I understand you have to do your thing but _pushing_ me, Brooke?"

"You deserved that and you know it." I replied, but not as self-assured as I was aiming for. "You're a bully, Liam; nothing seems to be able to change you. I thought you had gotten better after you helped us around Christmas; thought you had outgrown that person Mojo and Him made you into… I haven't seen Luke bully anyone in a long while and I haven't seen Leo being mean since you were kids. What's your deal? Why do you have to be so shitty to innocent people?"

Liam let out a long sigh and his face relaxed. "I'm sorry… I know I'm a fucking jerk. Sometimes it feels like I can't control myself; like a ticks sort of, or a sneeze, an itch I need to scratch."

"That sounds like total bullshit, you understand that yourself, don't you?"

Liam breathed heavily and looked down on the ground, and then he looked up again with a crooked smile. "I'll apologize to the emo kid, assure him that it won't ever happen again."

"Good. His name is Zac."

"Zac, yes." Liam said and put his name into memory. "I'll do better, for you. It's enough already. Okay? I am sorry. Don't break up with me, please?" he begged.

"Okay…" I gave him a crooked smile back, and then I took a big step forward and threw my arms around him. "I have missed you."

"I've missed you too, Love."

 **Blossom**  
Dainton picked me up at five o'clock with his car and we drove to the city to celebrate Valentine's Day. He'd told me that we were going to start the night with a movie and rest was a secret.

"I'm so happy I have you." I said as lovingly as I could when he turned the engine off.

"And I'm the happiest person in the world who has you." He leaned over to kiss me.

We stepped out of the car and headed to the movies. Dainton had bought tickets to a new, really romantic comedy. The entry was full of people as it was Valentine's and it was even more people in the theater. We were half an hour too early and bought a soda each and a big popcorn to share; then we sat down to wait in our seats while the lights were still on. Dainton put his arm around me and I leaned on him, caressed his belly and…

"Dainton?"

I popped out of my seat and turned around. That voice made shivers run up my spine.

"Olivia?" Dainton instantly got nervous; I noticed.

Olivia walked between the seats in the row behind ours with Stan's tall body behind her. His black hair and toothpaste white teeth you couldn't fail to see.

"Perfect…" I muttered.

 **Professor**  
The scientists at Townsville's laboratory called and asked me if I could come help them again with the project we couldn't finish before Christmas. Of course I said yes; what else was I going to do today?

 **Bubbles**  
My friends had helped me find underwear in the shopping mall but Mathilda was the one who had dragged us all around from store to store to find the perfect little negligee. But I didn't want anything that looked too "slutty", I wanted something cute that was going to fit me and my relationship to Leo – and we're not porn stars! We found a dark blue bra with matching panties without lace (blue is my favorite color, duh), and they fitted me perfectly without being too revealing.

Then the most embarrassing thing happened (or it could get embarrassing) when we were walking to the bus station (Ginger's car was broken down as usual) – we ran into Leo and his friends Zac, Simon and Clyde who went through the mall to come to the Skate House on the other side of it. I hid the bag behind my back with glowing hot cheeks.

Mathilda made them leave quick enough but I think that Leo caught up on that I was up to something but we left before he could ask me. It was so embarrassing! So obvious and planned if Leo had figured out what was in my shopping bag! He would have thought that I was trying to be the biggest… perverted… No, I need to stop this paranoia. This is just human nature, isn't it?

/So… I was going to meet up with Leo at his house seven PM because he had a surprise there, and later we were going to my house around eight since Liam had invited some friends over to party. He felt free to do so because their parents were going on a cruise ship for four days. My gosh, that's a long time! And so romantic…

And since I was already nervous I arrived at his house thirty minutes too early (I had the new underwear underneath my clothes just in case), and Leo was playing some kind of Zombie game on his computer together with Luke, Liam and Zac who all sat by their own computers in the house.

"Hi, honey. Sorry that I'm busy at the moment but in my defense; I thought you were coming in half an hour." Leo shouted when I entered his room and sat down on the bed behind him and Zac, who had brought his lap top. "Otherwise I would've thrown myself out of this chair and kissed you all over your face, you know that right? I love you."

"It's okay, silly!" I laughed. "I can wait 'til you're finished. Hi, Zac."

"I wish you could kill a team player… Hey…" Zac, who was really into his gaming, mumbled and I guess that he forgot the second later that he had even said anything at all.

They were both wearing big headphones on their head and talked to each other and to Liam and Luke while the blood spurted all over their screens… I wonder if it starts to bleed the first time you…

What is with me? Can't I just expect a nice and romantic evening? Maybe Leo is as ready as I am – that means not at all – so maybe it won't happen tonight anyways!

When the thirty minutes was up Leo quickly turned his game off, pulled off the headphones and jumped onto the bed next to me. He playfully pulled me back into the pillows, hugged me tight and kissed me all over my face as he had promised.

"You wanna go?" he whispered and kissed the indent behind my ear.

My whole body trembled – if this was a sample of what he was capable of then I had nothing to worry about.

"Didn't you want to do something here first?" I asked.

"Nah, we're going to have your house all to ourselves. Didn't Professor leave around six?"

"Yeah… But Zac?"

It was like we both had forgotten about him because we hadn't noticed he stood up by the door with his computer and skateboard under his arm. "I'll go to the Skate House but see you two in school tomorrow. See ya'." He waved and left the room.

When we were all alone in Leo's bedroom I felt the panic intensify again. I felt his warm breath, the scent from his clothes and his hair and it scared the shit out of me. What was with me? We had been alone in his room a thousand times!

"What's up?" Leo asked and looked worried.

"Nothing…" I replied. "Come on, let's go."

 **Buttercup**  
When I opened the door to Liam's house I ran into Zac who was on his way out.

"Hey…" he mumbled.

"Hey… What's your plans for Valentine's?" I asked before he ran away.

"Nah, I'm on my way to the Skate House."

"It's a party here in an hour. Swing by if you're getting bored."

"Maybe." He shrugged, jerked his head to clear his ice blue eyes from hair and gave me a smile. And then he just walked away.

Such a weird guy. But I actually understand if he's not coming tonight; it's really not that fun to be in your bully's house – regardless he said he's apologized or not.

 **Blossom**  
The movie ended and I felt that I really wanted to hurry out from the theatre as quick as possible with Dainton before Olivia jumped us again. We came to the entrance when Olivia waved Dainton down.

"It's so funny you're 'ere, Dainton!" before he had a chance to react she kissed him on both of his cheeks (Dainton stared at her like she was retarded), and then she turned to me. "Beatrice, nice to see you too." It didn't sound like it was nice at all to see me too.

"Hey, Betty…" said Stan who awkwardly tried not to maintain any eye contact. He thought this was as embarrassing as I thought.

Olivia seemed to really love this; she kept looking into Dainton's eyes and almost flirted with him.

"Nice to see you, Stan. We really need to get going." I said.

"I understand, see you around."

"Sure…" Dainton mumbled, shook his head and then dragged me to the parking lot. "That was interesting… to run into _him_ here." He seemed to think that he had it worse.

"Didn't you notice that your ex-girlfriend kissed you?" I replied angrily. She was the one who had started everything; Stan was only an old friend.

Dainton didn't answer. He only opened the door and sat behind the steering wheel. I walked around the black car and sat in the passenger seat.

We were both silent during the ride back home; both equally mad. When he turned the engine off outside his house he just sat there, staring straight forward.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked after a while.

"What?"

"To call her my _girlfriend_ …"

"You actually made it sound like it was Stan who was the problem when she was the one that stopped us! Didn't you notice how she looked at you, and how you acted?"

He sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry. Could we just forget about tonight?"

"Let's forget it." I leaned over to kiss him.

I felt that I could let it go; it was Valentine's Day after all.

 **Bubbles**  
We took a stroll up the street to my house; Leo held my hand all the way while discussing which tricks he wanted to try on his skateboard. I was half listening on what he said; all I had in mind was what _could_ happen tonight and my stomach was making loops. I just don't get why I can't just let it go, I mean; it's not the end of the world, is it? He won't hurt me if I just say no, right? This is madness! I think that I'm actually going crazy over this!

We went up to the house from the street and I pulled the key out of my pocket, opened the door and then shut it behind me with Leo in front of me.

"What's in your bag, by the way?" I asked; I hadn't noticed it during our walk over here.

"It's going to be a surprise." He smiled.

"Are you hungry? I'm sorry I didn't plan anything…"

"It's okay, it's my fault!" Leo said reassuring. "It was my surprise, right? I didn't mention anything about dinner; but I could eat a sandwich." I pursed my mouth with tense lips and slowly nodded my head. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I shook my head and threw on a smile; I was being ridiculous. "I'm fine, just a little tired, I guess."

We ate one sandwich each in the kitchen and I began to act normal again until it was time to go up to my bedroom where Leo said the surprise would take place… Bam! It all got scary again! What he pulled out of the bag was massage oils and scented candles… and he wanted me to lie down on my bed so that he could give me a massage.

"But only if you want to." He whispered and put his hands on my waist. "I'm not trying to pressure you into anything; I just want to show you what I've learned at the massage course I took a few months earlier. You'll be the judge. And tell me to stop whenever."

I gulped and tried to relax my muscles and Leo walked around the room to light the scented candles he had placed everywhere. He saw that I started to pull my shirt off and turned to the door to not embarrass me.

"You don't have to turn around." I said.

The adrenalin was pumping inside of me when I pulled my shirt off to show him my new bra and let him look – rather stare – and then lay down on my belly on the bed.

"When you're finished it's my turn to give you a massage." I mumbled while he sat down on the bed next to me on his knees and began smearing my back with massage oil that smelled like coconut.

"Is it okay that I unhook it? I don't know if it gets ruined by the oil…" he whispered; now I heard that he was as nervous as I had been earlier.

Leo had seemed to be so confident all day, almost like he hadn't cared at all; but I guess he was catching up on what was maybe going to happen tonight. So I didn't feel anxious any longer but even more courageous now that he got nervous.

"Unhook it." I replied confident.

 **Buttercup**  
More and more people dropped by the later it got and it seemed like everybody was there half past eight. I sat next to Liam in one of the brown leather couches in the living room; Liam with his arm around me and the beer in one hand while talking to Robin and Tilly. From time to time Liam bent down to kiss my forehead, my cheek, my head – to prove to me that he wasn't going to forget about this day. Which was nice… only that I wanted to spend this day alone with him and not with all the other people who were there.

 **Blossom**  
Dainton cooked tonight's dinner that consisted of teriyaki chicken with noodles and steamed vegetables (Dainton was really into the Japanese culture). It was a pleasant taste and a nice dinner overall. There were candles on the table in the otherwise dark dining room and he had set the table with their nicest china. And even though Dainton wasn't twenty one yet – and definitely not me – there stood a bottle of champagne on the table as well.

"I think red wine would suite this dinner better but dad said it wasn't that good if you're not used to it so he bought something that tasted better. Bon appetit or; douzo meshiagare."

And for dessert he served homemade vanilla ice cream with some sort of pineapple mix and it was amazing! I was mesmerized over the fact that he didn't want to go to a restaurant school instead and become a chef.

The only thing that wasn't that romantic was that Dainton's father and baby sister was at home; they didn't really sit with us and eat and ruin for us but I would rather want to be alone with Dainton (but Becca and Leo was at our house today). His big sister, Wendela, was on a cruise with her fiancé Eric (I even think it was the same ship as Leo's parents were on).

But other than that the night was great and Hank took Veronica to the movies after dinner and we ended the night in their spa downstairs with bubbles and lots of candles around us.

 **Bubbles**  
It was my turn to give a massage to Leo and as usual he had the hottest back in the world. I had seen him half naked before in the summers but it felt all different now; because now I could touch him all I wanted. I massaged him thoroughly and he was really enjoying it; laying there on his perfect belly.

After five minutes of back rubbing I bent over where I sat on his butt and began kissing him first between his scapulae up towards his neck and his long blonde hair.

"Mmmm…" he sighed, rolled around on his back, making me sit on his front side and pulled me down to kiss me on my lips.

We weren't nervous anymore; it felt like we had melted together into one body and was now running on our instincts. It felt good – more than good – laying on top of him, both of us half naked. I felt his hot skin against my body and now he was only mine.

 **Buttercup**  
The more Liam drank the more unbearable he got. He began liking the party more than me and was always off to new adventures; talk to just about everyone; play basketball on the driveway and play strip poker – of all card related games – instead of spending Valentine's Day with me. I realized he wasn't mature enough for a relationship…

I couldn't take it anymore and just left the house; went out in the cold February air for a walk. "Some monsters to fight would be perfect right now…" I mumbled, but for some reason monsters didn't come to Townsville anymore.

I remembered when we were kids; freshly created; it was chaos around the country every day – sometimes even several times a day. But now; now I was lucky if something happened even every sixth months!

In my desperate state I activated my supersensitive hearing to see if I could hear anything suspicious – anything at all – and heard a cough by the school. It sounded like a teenager and it sounded like he inhaled something… illegal smoke? Since I was so bored I didn't care if it was a minor who smoked an ordinary cigarette; I wanted to do something and something small didn't matter!

I flew to the school to search for the teenage thug and found him only one second later on the grandstands at the football arena. "Zac?" Of course! It's always the weird guy! "Why are you sitting here all alone at eleven PM?"

"Oh, hi, Brooke. The Skate House closed ten so I came here." He had his black hair hiding his face and casually hid his hand behind his back; I already knew it was cannabis… I could smell it from afar.

"Why don't you just go home?" I asked, sat next to him and leaned back.

"Nah… I didn't feel like it and it's kind of nice outside."

"True."

"And you? Why aren't you at that party with your boyfriend?" before he was always so shy but now he could talk like a normal person.

"I got sick of it. Liam isn't really romantic and sweet… I'm not really, either, but it's Valentine's, you know?"

"I was actually wondering why you were having a party today of all days; and it seems like you didn't want that."

"Why didn't you drop by when the Skate House closed?"

"I don't attend parties; especially not over at _his_ place. I mean; would he even allow that?"

"I actually talked to him about what happened today and he apologized to me. And if he had had anything against you coming in then I would've just thrown him out. Haha!"

Zac chuckled a little. "Yeah… He came up to me when I got to Leo's earlier and apologized to me too… but I don't know… it didn't really feel sincere."

"Believe me; he _never_ apologizes. I don't think he knows how to do it, really. He _is_ sincerely sorry about what happened." We sat quiet for a bit. "You want a ride home? I'm about to leave."

"No, thank you, my house is right there." He pointed to the nearest apartment building. "I'm just gonna' sit here a while longer."

"And you're sure you don't wanna' come to the party? Have a beer or something?"

"No, thanks. But I'll see you in school tomorrow – if that's okay with your boyfriend."

"I don't really see him as the jealous type…" I was thinking back at when Liam pushed Jake into the trophy cabinet and shook my head. "And hey, finish that smoke; I hear a police radio not far from here."

"You knew all the time and still won't take me down to the police station?"

"I was actually going to do that at first, to be honest… but you're okay, Zac."

Zac laughed. "You left a full house of drinking teenagers to bust me?"

I laughed too. "Yeah… I guess so. Well, see you tomorrow then."

Zac waved and I flew… home actually. I was in no mood of acting like nothing around Liam tonight… enough is enough.

 **Professor**  
My evening was wonderful! Just wonderful!

I was standing there, pouring different substances and liquids into bottles per usual, seeing both liquid and smoke change colors when I saw her… A woman with long blonde hair and nice and slender body walked through the door to talk to one of the scientists in the room. She wore her robe gracefully and almost danced over the floor and I began seeing pink clouds and stars…

"Professor Utonium!" the man next to me exclaimed. "Don't inhale that!"

I woke up from the flick from the mask Charles Berger put over my mouth and nose.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Charles… And thank you." Charles sighed and followed my eyes to the spot I had sheepishly stared at.

He spotted the woman and chuckled. "Her name is Irene Jones and work in the pharmaceutical ward. She is thirty-two years old and lives in Forestville. She has five dogs and loves taking walks in the park here in Townsville."

My brain was working at full speed and everything was spinning. "I have no idea why you just gave me all that information." I said nonchalantly and continued what I had been doing for the last couple of hours.

Charles just chuckled again and turned to his own.

/Later that evening Irene came up to me to ask me a few simple questions about base pairs and mitosis… That's strange – isn't she working here? Later she borrowed the burner I was just finished with and was just putting my stuff away.

Ten minutes later I stood in the parking lot, ready to put the keys in the lock and she came running to give me my car keys I had forgotten on the counter… I received the car keys and put the house key in my pocket again.

"Thank you." I mumbled. It was of no use being shy; she was too young for me either way.

"No problem!" She replied with her chirping voice. "If you've forgotten anything else I guess I'll give you a call." She laughed with a beautiful smile and bright ice blue eyes.

I couldn't utter a word. Why would she be interested in me? A young, beautiful woman; almost twenty years younger than this old man… So I just nodded my head with a silly smile and unlocked the door, stepped into the car and started the engine. I heard a knock on the window and pulled it down.

Irene was squatting next to the car to be about the same height as me. "This feels kind of stupid because I have never done this before and was actually expecting you to do it since you've been looking my way all night. I know that because, well, you know… I've been looking at you equally as much. I've been giving you hints – like the giving-you-a-call-thing…" She took a deep breath. "Would you like to go out with me someday and… for a drink and a bite?"

I still couldn't say anything and just stared incredulously. Did _she_ just ask me out on a _date_?

"No, you're right; I'm too obtrusive. Oh, yuk… How could I ever believe such an amazing scientist like you would want to go out with an amateur like me? I'm so sorry…" she hurried towards the building again.

"Irene, wait!" I gulped and she stopped and turned around. "Shall we say Saturday?"

/And now I have a date Saturday night! With such a beautiful woman, with such beautiful ice blue eyes and such a beautiful name… Irene.

 **Bubbles**  
The rest of the evening I laid on Leo's arm. Chills ran through my body like lightning bolts every time the past event popped up – which was, like, all the time – and laughed. Leo occasionally kissed me on my head and whiffed my hair; and that made the chills run even faster and make goose bumps appear on my naked skin.

My Leo. My Cowboy! A boy who wasn't a boy anymore and he had made me into – even though I feel like a loser to say it – a woman. At least a young woman.

It was strange… why did you need to do something like this to count as a grown up? I still felt like myself – like a seventeen year old girl who goes to school and still lives at home with her stuffed animals on the shelves. Okay, I actually feel totally different! I'm not Becca anymore; the little girl who is seen as an angel all the time with a Willie the Pooh blanket on her bed and stuffed animals on her shelves – I felt older, more important, more beautiful…

"So… how was it?" Leo whispered into my hair.

Above all I felt like a bigger deal to Leo and he felt like he was a bigger deal to me. Now we were bonded on a whole other level.

"Perfect. You?"

"Never done something quite like it… I'm glad the first time was with you."

"Yeah, me too."

He reached to the floor by the bed where his underwear was.

"Are you leaving?" I asked him, a bit hurt.

"Of course not, but what if someone enters the room? Shouldn't I be having clothes on?"

"That's true. I was just enjoying lying here next to you… I think I'm gonna take a shower."

"You do that. I'll wait for you."

I put on my robe that was hanging on the chair in the corner and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When I came back to the room I saw the clock on the wall above my bed – it was already twenty minutes past ten – but Leo's big figure obscured the sight of it and he hugged me tight.

"I heard someone enter the door and Professor will be home in ten minutes. I think I should go home." He said during the hug.

"Yeah, that was Brooke. See you in school tomorrow then?"

"I'll give you a ride." He whispered into my hair.

"I'll be at your place eight AM."

"Let's say seven thirty."

"Fine." I laughed and pulled away from him, and then I followed him down the stairs and received a long kiss before he went through the door.

This was the best night in my life – with the best guy in the world!

 **Buttercup**  
I flew to school as normal the morning after but wasn't in the mood to socialize with the people by the football arena like I usually do before going to the class rooms. It was five minutes until the class started, so Betty, Becca and Leo held me company. For some reason I had to look over my shoulder twice before noticing Liam who already stood there leaning against the wall… waiting for me.

"Good morning, Love…" he mumbled, gave me a hug and a kiss and looked straight into my eyes. "I'm sorry for yesterday… I should've been around you more, or even just don't have had a party. I missed you so much after you've left."

"It blows my mind you even noticed." I mumbled. "What made you change your mind? Who beat sense into your head?"

"Nobody… Or… I talked to Robin and Tilly; they made me realized what I was doing. What do you say about I do something about it tonight? Or tomorrow if it's better for you? I'll do anything to make up for what I did."

"Anything?"

"And we just ignore what happened in the past and just live in the presence. What's in the past is in the past, you know?"

"Alright… let's see what you can come up with tonight." I smiled.

He kissed me again and the school bell rang. Maybe Liam actually was trying? I decided to give him another chance to show me he was ready for a real relationship. Maybe he was just freaking out like I had done a month ago?

 **Professor**  
I woke up with a smile, prepared my breakfast while whistling, cleaned the house while singing and started to dance just before I even had the chance to load the washing machine. I have a date tomorrow – a date! With such a beautiful woman! I do not know how she got the idea that she was the one who seemed uninteresting when it so clearly was I who is boring!

We were going on a date this Saturday night and in a month and a half we were going on a trip together to Hawaii for almost a week – well it was actually a science related conference trip. For others it would be too early to go on a trip together but it was already predetermined, and every scientist in the Townsville lab was going. So technically we weren't going _together,_ together. And she was taking her sons with her and I was going to ask my girls if they wanted to come with – their spring break was going to start around there too.

Irene's sons; who both was in Blossom, Buttercup and Bubble's age; would have someone to socialize with.

 **Blossom**  
Becca seemed really happy today and she and Leo didn't seem like that they could stay away from each other for even a second. They never had; but now they were really glued to each other. Wherever I saw them in school they were holding hands, and every time Leo bent down to kiss Becca. I wonder if something particular happened yesterday?

 **Bubbles**  
At lunch break Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica, Henrietta and I followed Leo, Clyde, Simon and Zac to the skateboard ramp. The snow was melting so they could finally use it again during recesses.

I sat there on the bench and thought about how our little gang just grew and grew. Zac was the newest member, but if we get one more guy to join then we would be equally… I know it sounds ridiculous; but if we had one more guy then we could all pair up. I was together with Leo and Ginger with Clyde. I knew Mathilda had had a crush on Simon for a while and Henrietta had started to like Zac. One more guy and Jessica would have someone to fall in love with as well; and we would all be a group of best friends!

Okay… Even I thought that sounded cheesy! Scratch that last part.

Once my mind floated away to the night before, I just wanted to pull Leo aside to be alone with him. I couldn't even look at him any longer before having those fantasies; he was too hot for my own good!

"What did you do yesterday?" I asked my friends.

"Clyde and I was at the movies, and then we went to his place." Ginger replied first.

"No parents?" Mathilda asked expectantly.

Ginger pulled her shoulders in and nodded her head while smiling wide.

"Congratulations, sweetie!" Mathilda exclaimed and hugged her. "You are now officially a grown up! And you, Becca?"

"Nah… we didn't do anything special."

"Oh…" Jessica sighed, Henrietta looked down in her lap and Mathilda patted my arm.

"Whenever you're ready, sweetie." Said Mathilda.

"We _were_ ready yesterday!" I laughed. I couldn't restrain myself; I was too happy.

"You little..!" Mathilda shouted and pushed me.

"How was it?" Henrietta asked.

"Ask Ginger questions too! I don't want to be main character in this story!"

"No, don't ruin the fun!" Ginger laughed. "By the way; Leo and you have been longing for each other for ages; it must have been a thousand times more special for the two of you."

"Of course it was special…"

"Did you protect yourselves?" Jessica wanted to know.

"Of course they had condom. I gave Becca one before she stepped off the bus yesterday." Said Mathilda and I remembered the embarrassing moment she snuck me the little package and didn't let me leave my seat before putting it in my pocket. "And oh, my!" Mathilda continued. "In one way or another I made this possible for all you guys; I am a real pimp!"

We all started laughing.

"Now we're bounded forever in some way." Ginger laughed and hugged me.

"Yes! Oh, I'm so happy we did this together. Well, not _together_ , together."

"Does this make us virginity pals for life?"

We laughed louder than before and started pushing each other around.

"And what did _you_ do, by the way?" I asked Mathilda, Jessica and Henrietta.

"Since we didn't have any dates we decided to have a date night on our own." Jessica replied.

"At Mathilda's with romantic comedies, lots of candy and sodas." Said Henrietta.

"Pajamases, slippers, soft blankets, scented candles and lots and lots of pillows!" said Mathilda. "I almost thought I was going to throw myself at you guys and kiss you everywhere because it was so romantic!"

"But you _did_ throw yourself at us, kissing us everywhere." Jessica sighed.

"Oh, yeah right!"

Our loud laughs made the guys react and Leo asked from the top of the ramp: "What's so funny, y'all?"

"We're talking about all the _romance_ that took place yesterday!" Mathilda shouted back.

For some reason Leo's cheeks turned red as he skateboarded down the ramp. I hope he didn't think we were talking about Leo's and my night; and thought we were making fun of him.

 **Buttercup**  
The ones holding the cheerleading competitions every year had apparently changed their minds about Townsville's squad weren't allowed to participate – since a Powerpuff was their leader – so we were given the chance to compete to become America's greatest cheerleaders. The first admission contest will be held in April and the finalists will compete in June in the real tour.

So just after school was ended we immediately began the practice for a new dance and I noticed that Olivia did every other step wrong.

"Stop!" I shouted for the fifth time in five minutes and everyone started to sigh and groan.

"Olivia!" Emma growled and Heather sighed loudly.

"Yeah, what's up, Olivia? If you need to take a break just say so." I said, annoyed, and walked towards her.

I was still mad at her for what she had done to my sister, but since she was one of the best dancers in the squad I just couldn't kick her out.

She stomped with her foot in the floor and looked rebelliously at me. "I just can't get a 'old on the steps! Why do you need to make it so 'ard, Brooke?"

"Olivia, listen up…" I sighed. "You're a good dancer and my steps do live up to your expectations quite extraordinary. What's too hard for you? Show me the steps from the top and the rest of you take five."

"Zis!" she showed me the steps, counted ' _one_ , _two_ , _three_ , _four'_ and did just everything right this time.

"That was fine!" I said and had no idea what her problem was.

"Okay; maybe I just 'ave cold feet before the contest, zen…" she said, still cranky, as if it was my fault.

"Well, get over it. Let's proceed; I'm going to see Liam half past five so try and make no mistakes."

I started walk away from her to stand in the front, but stopped when I heard her snide voice behind me: "If I was the leader zen this team would be so much better!"

"What do you mean?" I asked and turned around.

"You zink you're so much better zan me, Brooke, zat you don't even see zat I am ze better one of us."

"Do you want to be kicked out? This is how you get kicked out."

"But it's not only _me_ who zinks so! You can always ask your boyfriend Liam."

I laughed. "Are you suggesting that Liam likes you better than me?"

"Why else would 'e be spending Valentine's Day wiz me and not wiz you?"

I felt the blood boiling inside me – so she _wanted_ to have her ass beaten? "One: I don't believe you and two: you'll leave and never come back. You're cut!"

Olivia snorted and ran to the locker rooms. The last thing I saw from her was her dark red hair that disappeared through the door.

"How are you?" Robin asked and started massaging my shoulders.

"I'm fine. I just can't understand why she would say something like that. As if Liam spent time with her rather than be with me!"

"But…" Tilly mumbled who also wanted to show her support. "I thought it was because of…" Robin kicked her on her leg. "Ouch! You don't need to kick so hard!"

"What?" I asked, worried.

"We thought that that was what Liam talked to you about this morning… and that was the reason he wanted to make up for it tonight." Mumbled Robin.

"What?" I repeated and felt my body starting to shake even worse and my heart began pounding.

"Sweetie…" Robin whispered with teary eyes. "We thought you knew that Liam slept with Olivia last night."

I kicked the door open to the locker room and flew out to the hallway where the exit and the door to the boy's locker room were. I immediately found what I was searching for; Liam sat on the floor, leaning against the wall outside the locker rooms; and when he saw my face and my staring eyes he slowly got up on his feet.

"Brooke… Love… I'm sorry; I thought… I didn't think…"

"YOU THOUGHT THAT I WOULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT?! THAT I'M TOO STUPID TO DESERVE THE TRUTH?!"

"I didn't think it would happen… I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you…" he began backing towards the cul-de-sac.

"I SHOULD'VE KNOWN! YOU'RE TOTALLY FUCKING USELESS, LIAM BERGER, AND I SHOULD'VE KNOWN!"

The curious bunch of people who had gathered around us were slowly thinning out to the exit and leaving us alone; now it was only me and that disgusting idiot in front of me.

I rubbed my hands together, making black smoke smolder from them, and when I opened them a green flare turn up and a ball of pressured air and green fire was formed between them. I threw the ball through the hallway and it hit Liam straight in his torso and he flew headlong against a brick wall and slid down on the floor. I punched a hole in the wall next to me and lifted from the floor to fly to him with glowing eyes.

All I had in my mind then and there was to kill him… But something or someone grabbed my arms from behind and my whole world burst.

 **Blossom**  
"There, there, Brooke…" I carefully whispered and began leading her away from the sports center.

All life seemed to have run out of her and a tearing sound was heard from her throat. It was the first time I had seen Brooke cry since we were little; and if it hadn't been for Becca and me then Liam would have been more damaged than he already was.

Becca took him to the hospital while I helped Brooke home slowly but before too many curious faces saw her this upset. The sight of Liam's bloody face and angled leg was enough for anyone to understand that Brooke wasn't a powerpuff girl you messed with. But I do understand why she did it; on the way home she sniffled something about Valentine's Day and a party where Liam had been sleeping with Olivia.

That fucking Olivia…

When Becca caught up to us by the door Brooke had enough air to say: "Next time she'll be after Leo…" before stumbling over the threshold and flew up to her bedroom.

*a decimeter = 3,9 inches

 **Hi guys! I'm so sorry this chapter took so long for me to upload! I have had** _ **the**_ **most busy week and this chapter was so long so that's why it took so much time! But anyways, hope you liked it and please leave a comment!**


	15. Chapter 14 - When life gives you lemons

First things first: FINALLY the chapter is finished! I will also update the "facts about the characters" so keep an eye open for that!

And I want to thank **ApZl24** and **ChaCharleeno** for following and favoriting this story! And thank you all for reading and not giving up on me! : ) without further ado…

 **When Life gives you Lemons…**

 **Professor  
** No matter how much Bubbles tried to perceive me to go, how much Blossom promised she would keep an eye on Buttercup or how much Buttercup nagged about that she could take care of herself; I still cancelled the date with Irene. I had found out everything about Buttercup and her first boyfriend Liam, and I really didnt want to just leave her now. Blossom told me it was the same girl who had made her break up with Dainton, and I began realizing that this girl wasn't someone you messed with.

"What if she tries to get to me through Leo…" Bubbles mumbled where we sat in the couches, watched a comedy on TV.

Buttercup sat next to her with a blanket around her body and messy hair. It was Saturday night and she hadn't said a word in hours. So when she opened her mouth again I jumped a little. "You need to keep a better eye on him than what Betty and I did on our guys."

"You need to trust him, Becca, or else you would only hurt his feelings if you're guarding him." Said Blossom.

"I trusted Liam… and I know that you trusted Dainton." Buttercup whispered without taking her eyes from the TV screen.

"Let's not… talk about this, come on, girls." I said and glanced at Buttercup. "I don't mean anything by this but boys your age have a lot of things going on for them and easily get distracted. You have your entire life finding the right boy."

Buttercup got up on her feet with her blanket around her body and started walking up to her room.

"I'll make her some tea." Said Blossom and went into the kitchen.

 **Bubbles**  
I know Betty was right; I would only hurt Leo's feelings if I showed him that I didn't trust him. But I did trust him! I absolutely don't think that he is that kind of person; the person who cheats on his girlfriend. Liam… maybe this sounds mean but it wasn't actually too unexpected of him to do what he did. But Dainton on the other hand; why did he do that towards Betty? I've known him for over a year and it really didn't make any sense that he would kiss Olivia.

They have been dating for over a year; maybe… maybe he needed variation? No! I can't think like that! Leo and I had been together for half a year and what if he gets tired of me and… I need to stop.

"How are you?" Leo felt my hand tense up while we were walking together through the hallway in school.

I cleared my throat. "Just a little upset since Friday, I guess." I said.

Leo perched his lips and looked pensive. "Yeah… my brother in a nutshell, I guess."

And now I got reminded over the fact that they're brothers! They're so different from each other that I forget about stuff like that.

We kept walking through the corridor but stopped by his locker where he would fetch his book for chemistry class.

"See you at lunch, honey." Said Leo and I stood on my tippy toes to kiss him.

"I love you."

"I know. And you already know that I love you too?"

"Yeah, I know." I smiled and watched him walk to the chemistry corridor. I was worrying for nothing.

 **Blossom**  
The rumors that was flying around school said that Liam's injuries were worse than what they really were. The top rumor was that he had been in a coma and woke up just this morning and that both his legs were broken in three places. Then they said that two of his ribs were broken in half, he had a broken key bone and both shoulders dislocated. Well, okay… the worst rumor that people was actually spreading was that Liam was dead.

He did look really messed up when Becca carried him to the hospital a few days prior, but everything was exaggerated on this school. I just hope that Brooke hasn't heard them yet…

She went to school with us this morning, wasn't late and just went directly to her first class of the day. She made notes in her notebook and then went to the second class. She got to skip P.E. and sat by herself during lunch. Becca, Mindy and I sat down at her table but she didn't want to talk to us. Brooke was dead silent and nodded once in a while.

I understood just what was going on inside her head and caught up on the old memories from my sad days. I was angry and devastated all the time at once, my whole world was shattered and my heart refused to heal – I know that's exactly what Brooke is going through right now. And if it is exactly what I was going through then it'll get better in only two weeks, so hang in there now, Brooke.

 **Professor**  
It was Tuesday night when it knocked on my door and I answered it. The girls were in their own bedrooms minding their own business. The atmosphere in the house was just as it had been when Blossom broke up with Dainton, if not worse; there was no happiness at all, not even a little smile.

Two policemen stood in the doorway.

"Hi, can I help you?" I asked them, worryingly.

The officer on the right cleared his throat. "I'm officer Paulman and this is my assistant Flinck. We need to talk to you about one of your daughters, Professor Utonium. It's about Brooke."

"Oh, gosh…" I sighed; I knew this day was coming. "This is serious." I nodded.

"We were at the Townsville hospital and had a look at Liam Berger." Said the assistant. "It does not look good, Mr. Utonium."

"Isn't he going to make it?" I wheezed in panic with my hands on my forehead.

"No, no; it's not like that!" officer Paulman hurried to say and threw a hard glare at his colleague. "He was grossly damaged but he can leave the hospital tomorrow morning. It was just that-"

"Are you here to arrest me?"

I turned around and saw Buttercup walk slowly towards us with her blanket on her shoulders. Her eyes looked dead, empty, and big dark sacks had started to appear under them. Her hair was messy and out of control.

"Brooke…" said the first officer with a calm voice. "We just wanted to make sure that you understand that what you did is against the law. And you did really injure that boy."

"So… should I just go out and hop into the police car or can I pack my bag first?" her voice was hoarse after the long silence.

I stepped aside so that the officers could see her when they were talking to her and Paulman opened his mouth: "We don't want it to happen again. We were just at the hospital and asked Liam if he wanted to press charges. But he said no. You'll get off with a warning; we can't take you to the station either way; with or without force."

"Wait a minute." Buttercup squinted her eyes and jut her lower jaw out. "Just hold on for just one second. Are you suggesting that I would refuse arrest? That I would act that I'm above the law?"

"Calm down, Brooke." I whispered to her, but I knew she heard me. "He didn't mean it like that."

The two officers looked at each other and the young assistant, Flinck, even hovered with his hand over the gun in his belt.

Buttercup noticed it as well. "Oh, come on, are you kidding me? Do you really think that a _gun_ would hurt me?"

"Brooke, it's enough!" I waited for her to look at me before turning to the two men again. "We're really sorry for all of this."

"Of course we would trust you." Paulman gave the young assistant a strict glare again. "But that's not the case right now. He wanted us to tell you other stuff as well…"

"But that's not important." Said Flinck quickly. He seemed like he just wanted to leave. They both nodded their heads and started turning around.

"What did he say?" Buttercup asked a little more alert.

Paulman told Flinck that he could wait in the car and then looked at Buttercup again. "Liam said that he deserved what happened to him and that you did everything right. He didn't want to press charges because he didn't want you to be punished for something he himself had caused. You shouldn't suffer more than what you already do. And then he said… that he could take this kind of pain every day, if he could just have you with him one more time and…" Paulman made a face that said that he didn't want to have this conversation any more. "Why don't you just pay him a visit? He had a lot to say that I think is worth listening to."

"Thank you. If that was all..?" I said after a few seconds of silence.

The officer nodded and then left. I closed the door and turned to say something supportive to Buttercup, but she wasn't there.

 **Buttercup**  
I stood in front of the sign without noticing the name on it; I had just followed his scent so I knew he was in there. Should I just get over with in and go in? I opened the door to Liam's hospital room and went in without thinking too much about it.

There he was on the bed with his face turned to the TV on the wall. The room was all dark if not for the TV screen and one small lamp in the window; but I could still see his face, and his black hair was glued to his forehead. He was breathing shakily like he was in a lot of pain. He heard the weak sound from the door closing and spotted me by it with wide eyes.

"Quiet…" I mumbled when he opened his mouth to say something. "I'll talk and don't want to hear a word from you… This is the last time you'll hear me talk directly to you, and if you know what's best for you then you won't try to talk to me either. I lost my control that day, and if it happens again then I don't know if I will keep to _just_ hurting you. Next time I'll kill you. And I don't say this to threaten you, but because I have no idea what happens when I lose my control like that. To be honest I don't remember anything from the gym… when I'm trying to remember, all I see is black. It's gone."

"I do whatever you-"

I raised my hand and closed my eyes. "Not a word, remember?"

"I don't care. You can try and kill me if you want, I won't give up."

"That was all I wanted to say." I opened the door to leave.

"Brooke! Please, listen!"

I could still hear him shouting after me while I walked through the corridor towards the elevators. But when the elevator doors closed, all I could hear was silence.

 **Blossom**  
It's not many months left until we finish school for this time and will attend our last year on Townsville High after the summer break. Dainton was going to college after summer and we would be separated for a year! But it was _only_ for one year; because I was going to the same college as him!

Today was the last day in school before spring break and Becca Brooke and I was going to Honolulu, Hawaii with Professor tonight. Him and many other scientists were going to a conference there and Professor hadn't been this excited in years.

To show her support and respect, neither Dainton nor Leo was going with us on this trip; even though Charles Berger was. But it didn't matter for Leo; he had told Becca that Mr. Berger behaved strange when Mrs. Berger wasn't around; like he imagined himself thirty years younger than what he actually was.

What Becca was worrying about the most was if Olivia was going to try and snatch Leo from Becca while she was away.

"You should trust him." I just repeated when I saw her anxious face when Leo walked away to throw something in the garbage bin in the school canteen.

Both Mindy and Dainton was sick today so I sat by Becca and her friends.

"Of course I trust him… but…"

"But what?" Jessica whispered. "You don't seriously think that Leo would..?"

Becca just kept looking at him and gave him an unsure smile when he got closer.

 **Professor**  
Irene was really understanding when I explained to her that I needed to spend time with my family. But one day a week we could go on a date.

Every Saturday night had become date night; and all we did was eating dinner at a fancy restaurant and watched a movie at the theaters to show her that I was still interested… but I didn't dare go further than that.

She kept giving me little hints that she wanted me to kiss her, but since I felt too shyly about taking that step just yet it never happened. It had been too long since I was dating… And it was after the date I realized that she was giving me hints, like I was too dumb to understand that in the moment. And every time I realized, I was wondering if she was going to turn me down the next time I asked her. Was this just going to run out in the sand? But every time I called her she happily said yes to another date… I really need to sort myself out and get the courage to kiss her!

 **Buttercup**  
A month had gone by since Valentine's Day without me getting any better. The time had just flown by and I hadn't even noticed that we soon would be going on spring break. After the last class of school we were going to the airport with Professor where we would take the plane to Honolulu, Hawaii to attend some science conference… as if I was interested in that? But Professor said that maybe this trip would do me good considering everything that had happened to me.

During lunch break the last day Tilly gave me a really strange advice if I wanted to get over Liam faster. We were walking towards the back of the bleachers at the football arena to have a smoke; I hadn't been smoking for months, but I haven't wanted it more than what I did right now either. I felt angry and depressed, and Tilly understood me.

"Hi." Zac was passing us in the stairs outside the school building because he was on his way in as we were going out. He had his skateboard under his arm and stopped in front of me. "I'm sorry about you and Liam… How are you?" he sounded sincere enough. We hadn't talked to each other at all this month but that was because I didn't want to talk to anybody.

"Hi, Zac. I'm fine; I'll survive."

"Good to hear." He said and nodded his head. "If there's anything I can do..?"

"No… I mean… Time heals all wounds, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Hey… see you around."

"Yeah, see ya. Take care, Brooke."

"Thanks."

When we walked down the steps Tilly gave me the advice that made me react: "You can always use Zac as a temp-guy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. As if he would be interested, I mean? He's not my type at all… a nerd? Come on. Plus; he's friends with my sister!"

"Which one?"

"Does it matter?"

"And; he totally has a crush on you!"

"He does not! Why do you think that?"

"Come on, it's so clear! I've been watching him and he's acting really strange when he's around you; whenever he sees you he fixes his hair; every time he's out on his skateboard and sees you, he just _suddenly_ wants to go in and just _happens_ to run into to you and stops to talk to you. He is _so_ in love with you! And by the way; his brother told me."

"His brother?" I asked.

"Gordon Jones, you know; the sophomore."

"Is Gordon his _brother_? They don't even look like each other! And how does he know about Zac?"

"He had apparently wrote your name in one of his notebooks and scrabbled over it. You have a secret admirer and I think you should take this chance."

"Gordon's brother?" I asked again because I just couldn't get a hold of this new information.

"Yeah… oh, yeah; you slept with him before we finished sophomore year! You can as well have both brothers and then compare the two." Tilly winked at me while I rolled my eyes.

 **Bubbles**  
The plane was lifting half past three the same day from Seattle's airport and would land around ten PM on Honolulu's airport on Hawaii.

I sat next to Brooke on the plane who sat closest to the window and behind our seats Professor and Betty had their seats. Mr. Berger sat a few rows over, but had he been closer Professor would have discussed the lectures with him; since Professor had a hard time being still. He constantly moved around and switched position on his seat, tried to loudly solve his crosswords, read his papers and had a drum solo on his knees.

Betty tried to make up little games with him to keep him busy and to calm him down while I read my book about dolphins I had gotten for my birthday. I think that Brooke was asleep; she was quiet the entire ride with her headphones on, loud music blaring out of them with shut eyes.

When we arrived to Honolulu we went down to the level beneath us to fetch our luggage. Professor helped Brooke with her hockey bag even though she had no problem doing it herself, but he was desperate to make her happy.

We took a cab to the four star hotel where the science fair was being hold; a hotel right at the beach. It was really beautiful even though I would rather stay at the bungalows further down the beach.

Two men welcomed us when we arrived to the hotel: one with a cart to put our bags so he could take them to our rooms; and one with a tray with drinks to give us just as we entered the lounge. Professor said no thanks to his drink but Betty, Charles and I took one each. Brooke didn't even look at the glasses.

We all took the elevator to the tenth floor. My sisters and I shared a room and Professor had his own room just across the hall. When Betty opened the door my yaw dropped; it was one of the nicest hotel rooms I had ever been in. The lounge was just in front of us with dark brown, shiny wooden floor; pastel green walls and three black, stylish chairs – they knew that we were going to be three in this room. A door to our right indicated that the bathroom was there.

Behind the chairs was a big window covering the entire back wall, showing the big balcony and the mountains and jungle surrounding the island. The sea could be seen from the front of the hotel, our room was at the back.

I hadn't even seen our bedroom yet but I could as well sleep in the lounge.

Professor; who had been looking into our room together with us; opened his own door and we all peaked into it when he switch the lights on. His room looked almost just like ours, only a little smaller and two chairs instead of three in the lounge. From his window we could see the sea and the beach.

"Well, good night then, girls. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, g'night." Said Brooke and walked into our room without looking at us again.

"When will Irene and her sons arrive?" Betty asked.

"They'll arrive to the hotel around noon. We will eat dinner with them later that night. Is that okay?"

"Yes! Of course!" I said. "Good night then, dad."

"Good night, Professor."

"Good night, girls."

We all shut our doors and went into our rooms. When Betty and I had passed the lounge we walked into a big living room with the same color theme as in the lounge with dark wooden floors, pastel green walls and black leather chairs and couches. There was a big forty-five inch flat screen TV in our living room; and two doors led into the bedrooms. We peaked into one of them where there was one big bed, a nightstand and a drawer. Someone was under the covers and the lights were off; Brooke had already gone to bed.

Betty and I decided to leave her alone so we opened the door to the next room which had twin beds and a big window looking out over the mountains.

"Looks like this is our room." Said Betty and I nodded.

 **Blossom**  
Though I had been at Dainton's, saying goodbye, just before we left the state I missed him so much it hurt. He didn't want me to stay too long because he was ill and contagious; but I didn't care and crawled down in bed with him anyway. And now it's six days until I can see him again and it sucks so bad! Well… I could just fly over to him and it would take about a second… but he wanted me to have a real vacation and pretend that I didn't have any super powers and just relax on the beach. Maybe that was a good idea, after all?

The first morning in Honolulu Becca was the first to wake up as usual and was already ready when Professor came and knocked on our door to wake us up. Him and Becca went to the breakfast buffet to take a table while I fixed myself and did my makeup.

"Come on, Brooke, you need to eat." I nagged her; she just sat in one of the chairs flipping through the channels on the TV.

She had gone up in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep and had been watching TV since, instead, and was still watching.

"Can't I just come and eat lunch later?"

"Breakfast and dinner was included; you have to pay for your lunch."

"I have money, don't worry."

"Please?" I quickly brushed through my long, red hair in front of the mirror in the lounge.

It was now ten minutes past eight and the breakfast buffet was going to close at nine. But Brooke stood up from the couch, put on a pair of jeans and didn't do anything else about her appearance.

I knew what she was going through. If… if it wasn't worse for her for some reason? I don't remember being this depressed _this_ long after Dainton and I broke up. I had been devastated, of course, but Brooke seemed like she was broken. Maybe it was because Liam was her first or that I almost dated Stan while Dainton and I were apart? Either way, this wasn't healthy for her.

 **Buttercup**  
 _'Please, answer…'  
'I miss you.'  
'I'M SORRY, I love you!'  
'I can't live without you.'  
'I don't know what happened but you need to forgive me! Please pick up the phone.'_

Text message after text message, the second one more pathetic than the first; all of them sent from Liam. Every time he had tried to call me in the middle of the night (so no, I hadn't slept one minute) I just shut the cell phone off for about an hour to make sure he had gotten sick of calling me all the time. But every time I started the phone again I received at least four messages. I know, I know; I should have just l kept it off and stop caring about it, but it felt like… well, it felt like I needed this; to know that he still tried.

It was now a month and a half since I saw Liam, but still he periodically called me in the middle of the night and sent texts. Sometimes days could go between his texts and sometimes a whole week… why didn't he just give up on me? It's only harder for me to get over him if he keeps doing stuff like this, but I actually think that that is his plan…

The first lecture for the day was going to be at two PM and Professor really wanted us to go with him. But until then; I was going to sit in the sun until my skin felt too tight for my body. Betty held me company under her umbrella while I lay on the ground on a towel, right there out in the sun. Becca and Professor wanted to check the small tourist village out.

"What time is it?" I asked Betty.

"Noon. Do you think Irene and her sons have arrived?"

"I don't know, and I don't care."

I heard her moving around in her chair and then gasped. "Isn't that Zac?"

"What?" I looked up over her legs and saw Zac heading toward us from the hotel and next to him was Gordon Jones from sophomore.

"Are they Irene's sons?" Betty asked.

"Hi!" Zac shouted, and when they had gotten up to us they stopped. "Becca said you were going to be here. She'll come down after she'd changed."

"Hi, Zac! I had no idea Irene was your mother!" said Betty. "And I haven't met you before. I'm Beatrice." She shook hands with Gordon who introduced himself. He looked my way and winked. _Me_ he had met before.

"Hey, Brooke." Zac sat down on the hot sand next to me and I sat up.

He had only a pair of black shorts on, the rest of his body was naked! His skinny body was nothing compared to Liam's muscular basketball player body… but I didn't want to compare them even further.

"Hey, Zac. It's… weird seeing you here. And I had no idea Gordon was your brother." Well, not before Tilly told me yesterday.

Gordon with his blonde, kind of short hair; his little piggy snout and his hefty jaws didn't look anything like his big brother Zac – black hair (which I now realized was dyed from blonde), skinny face and wide mouth with full lips. Gordon was much bigger than Zac because he was the Center of the footballs team, but he wasn't that much taller than Zac, though it sure looked like it because of his size. I tried to see what they had in common and noticed they both had their mother's eyes; ice blue.

Was this fate?

 **Professor**  
When I spotted Irene by the check-in counter when Bubbles and I came back from the market my heart almost exploded out of joy. She turned around… and I saw those blue, beautiful eyes of hers.

"Zac?" Bubbles exclaimed by the sight of one of Irene's sons who stood right next to her. It was one of Bubbles and Leo's friends she had brought home several times after school.

/The kids went to the beach while Irene and I walked around the hotel to see where all the lectures were going to be. Mr. Berger was originally going to be my companion today, but since I was waiting for Irene in the hotel's lounge he went ahead with some of his scientist colleagues.

"This brochure says that you're having your lecture in room seven tonight." Said Irene and pointed to one of the white doors in the hall on the tenth floor with the number "seven" on it. "And I will have mine about bipolar head mechanisms in room thirteen. Oh, goodie! It'll be in different hours so I'll be able to see yours!"

"If I don't miss your lecture then this week will be awesome." Said I with a sincere smile.

Irene's cheeks turned red as she read the brochure a little closer. "I don't have _my_ lecture until tomorrow so everything worked out for the best, either way." She sighed and gave herself a face palm as if she had said something stupid.

"Erm… An honest mistake we all do." I tried to encourage her.

"Thanks. You are so nice to me, John." She gave me her prettiest smile back. "But I really think I should go to my hotel room now and install myself for a bit, and rest. I haven't slept one second last night!"

"Me neither!" said I. "And I agree on that a nap would be just perfect right now. See you at dinner tonight?"

"We should eat before your lecture start, so six o'clock?"

"Not five?"

"Let's say five!" she laughed. "See you then, John."

"See you…" I walked on pink clouds all the way to my room.

 **Bubbles**  
It was so fun that Zac was here! Now I could be with him all week. But it was a little strange that he didn't tell me that he was going here on the Spring Break… well, I didn't really ask him either so I guess he just didn't think of it.

And it wasn't really that bad hanging with Betty and Brooke, just… well… Brooke didn't want to talk to anyone, and Betty tried so hard to cheer her up so there wasn't really anything to do around them. And, I could get to know Gordon a little bit more and maybe start a new friendship? But Gordon was one of the popular kids on school because he was a football player. Oh well, how different from Zac could he really be?

"Hello, kittens, looking good!" the girls Gordon just had given that inappropriate comment to giggled when they passed us. "I will have that redhead before nightfall." He mumbled while biting his lip.

Okay, he was nothing like his big brother. But since I didn't want to freeze Gordon out I had to be with him and Zac the entire day. But oh, my god; he is one year younger than me and acts like that?

While Gordon was rubbernecking after girls walking through the village near the hotel, Zac and I was looking through all the different things that was being sold in the stands.

"Check those out!" Zac excitedly pointed at some CDs in one of the stands. "Mose, Sex Guns, My Chemical Love … Excuse me, do you have anything like Pelundium or The Prology?"

"No, sorry." Said the Hawaiian who sold the CDs. "But we have this new pop star Justin Beebah."

"Yeah, you love him, Zac!" Gordon teased. "I can buy you that CD if you don't have the money. You can pay me back later!"

I started to giggle and Zac said "no, thanks" to the dealer with glowing cheeks, so we went on to the next stand where they sold t-shirts.

"I didn't know you listened to Drum and Bass." I said after Zac had explained to me what Pelundium and The Prology were.

"I don't, it was going to be a gift for my baby sister."

"Your sister?" I had forgotten all about Zac's other sibling, but he rarely talked about himself and his family.

"Her birthday is in a month."

"Why isn't she here? And is she going to our school?"

"She isn't my mother's daughter." He said brief, like he didn't want to talk about it. I was just going to repeat the other question but he was faster. "She'll attend Townsville High next year."

"So she's thirteen?" I was surprised over Zac's changed persona and looked back at Gordon who was leaning against another stand to flirt with a girl behind us. Zac was talking quietly; maybe he didn't want his brother to hear?

"Yes… or yeah, she'll be thirteen in a month."

"Oh, yeah."

"Hey… Becca, was it?" Gordon poked me on my shoulder and I turned around. "Is Brooke still dating Luke's brother?"

"Why?" I asked him with disgust; I really didn't like the thought of someone like him hitting on her right now.

"I'm just wondering." He gave me a stupid, confident smile. Maybe the girl he had been hitting on at the other stand had rejected him so he needed a little acknowledgement elsewhere.

"Yes. He and she are still dating. And I wouldn't want to be on his bad side if I were you."

For some reason Zac looked disappointed, but what I lie about is my affair. I didn't ask him to be my holy conscience.

 **Blossom**  
Brooke refused getting any better when the clock struck two and Professor was on his first lecture with Irene; and Becca was still in the village with Zac and Gordon. I wished that they just wanted to be here and socialize with us, since Brooke didn't want to talk with me anyway.

"You wanna go to the hotel and see what's on TV?" was my last desperate suggestion.

"The sun is shining." She mumbled. "You can go and watch TV."

"And leave you here by yourself? Do you _really_ don't want to do anything? Maybe we could swim around in the ocean? Hey, let's see who's the fastest!"

Brooke sat up, pulled her shades off so that we could look at each other. "You don't have to, Betty." She sighed. "Go have fun. I'm really not in the mood to do anything at all today."

And to prove my loyalty I stayed in the shadow of my parasol and opened my book I was reading.

/Saturday, two days later, Becca, Zac and I was sitting at an Internet café at the beach. Brooke had barricaded herself entirely from the surrounding world on our hotel room flipping through the channels on the TV. It had gone so far now Professor threatened her with therapists and things like that, and it took almost an hour for her every time to convince him that this will pass soon; she just needed to be alone for a few days.

I hated seeing her like this, but it's like she says… it will pass and we need to leave her alone until she seeks _us_ out for consolation.

Zac wanted to play computer games so Becca and I followed him there. This Internet café wasn't like the cafés in Townsville – just a big, hot, dark room filled with computers and a little kiosk where you can buy coco-cola and chocolate bars.

This café was just like a typical, exotic beach café with light chairs and tables in a bright room with panorama windows looking out on a big terrace facing the ocean; and a small room in the back with five slow (according to Zac) computers.

While he was playing that stupid zombie game Dainton was always playing as well, Becca and I sat on the terrace in the sun with an iced tea each in front of us.

"Where's Gordon, by the way?" I asked her.

"He found a group of people he could hang out with." She said and looked at me when I didn't answer; I gave her a surprised look. "Calm down, I've set my hearing on him so I know what's going on. And they seemed friendly enough; they invited us to a party tonight that I'm not going to."

"Party?" I could kill someone for doing something fun tonight (not literally, though…). At least to make up for all the boring hours with Brooke these past couple of days.

"Yeah, they were going to be in some girl's apartment I don't really remember the name of. Why? Do you wanna go?" she asked with wrinkled forehead.

"Maybe just for a second; to get to know new people, you know. And I can take Brooke with me, she would never say no to a party. Maybe that can cheer her up?"

"Well… okay. We can ask Gordon when he comes back to the hotel."

"Or, I can just send him a text." Said Zac who came walking out from the café and sat down on a chair at our table with a coco-cola in his hand.

"No, no, it's cool!" I laughed and chickened out. "It would only feel weird to invite yourself into a party where you don't know anyone."

"They did invite _us_." Said Zac and pointed to himself and Becca. "And if Becca's not going then you can take her place. And I don't think that they would say no to one more, either, so you can ask Brooke too."

"But…" said Becca uncomprehendingly. "This isn't like you, Zac. Are you really going to the party?"

"I'm on vacation." Said Zac and took a zip on his coco-cola. "And these computers suck anyway; so I need to do something on this stupid island."

/So Brooke and I were going to meet Gordon and Zac in the lobby seven PM.

 **Bubbles**  
Everyone was going to a party tonight and leave me all by myself at the hotel. I was thinking I could cheat and fly to Leo tonight; but for some reason it felt like I was only going to ruin the feeling of being on vacation if I did… so I decided to stay and just call him like a normal person.

I followed Professor and Irene on one of the lectures which was going on and on for over an hour. It was an old man holding the lecture about uninteresting things about theories of… no, I don't even remember what it was about. It was so boring and I couldn't just stand up and leave in the middle of the lecture either, because that would only have been rude. So I waited until it was over.

After that I went straight up the room again and reread my book about dolphins (of course I had packed down the wrong book instead of the new one I had gotten from grandma) and fell asleep at nine PM.

 **Buttercup**  
Tanya was the girl we were going to and the ones who were taking us there were Brits who had moved here to work and enjoy Hawaii's islands and hot climate.

For the night I had chosen my marine blue, airy tunic and short jean shorts which I had bought in the village the same day. Betty had her white, thin tunic and a beige skirt. We looked summery, chic and touristy.

Betty, Gordon, Zac and I waited outside the hotel at seven PM, right after dinner. Professor and Irene had no idea where we were going, and they wouldn't have let us if they knew. Ruben; one of the Brits; was going to pick us up in a minivan and then take us past the tourist village and further into the island where Tanya lived in an apartment district.

"Aloha! You called for a ride?" said the guy in the passenger seat who I later found out was Ruben's little brother, Robin.

Robin is apparently both a boy's _and_ a girl's name. You learn something new every day, I guess.

"Sure! Where are the girls?" Gordon asked as he opened the door and hopped into the van.

"They're waiting at Tanya's." said Ruben when we all were sitting in the van. "Nice ride, eh? It's Tanya's."

"Apart from the rust!" Gordon laughed. And then they started to talk about cars and I faded into my own world.

/It took half an hour before we arrived to an apartment district with the cheaper apartments and broken facades; but it would have taken less time if we hadn't stopped by a small shop on the way there.

Ruben and Robin – who both had blonde dreads, and also were brothers – walked in front of us through the entrance door and up the stairs. I started feeling a bit creeped out following strangers into their home; they could be murderers, for all I care! If I had been a normal girl then I would never have followed them home to this Tanya that I had never met before.

Robin opened the door to the apartment at the third floor and stepped inside. We heard music from the living room; Bob Knarley. Betty looked skeptic when she took her shoes off and started sniffing the air.

"Remember this is our vacation." I warned her quietly; I really didn't want her to ruin everything when stuff had just started happening.

 **Blossom**  
We stopped by a small store before going to Tanya's where Ruben and Robin (who both were over twenty one years old) bought booze for us while we had to wait in the car. When I say "us" I mean myself as well…

Brooke ordered a lot of alcohol but I had seen her drink before; even though she gets drunk sometimes she can handle a lot of alcohol, and she promised me that she wasn't going to drink it all in one night.

Gordon ordered even more than Brooke but I couldn't say anything… he wasn't my problem even though he was only sixteen years old and something told me that I just wanted to be normal for once and not be the world's protector! Can I have just one night to be normal?

I only wanted a couple of ciders and Zac took a six pack of beers; even thought I didn't know he liked to drink. For some reason Robin bought lemons; but it was a surprise as for why.

/When we got to meet Tanya and three others who had gathered around the coffee table in the living room in a small but open planned apartment with only one bedroom; I felt that I could finally relax. They were the nicest people even though they were much older than us!

The people: Tanya who lived there and was a native Hawaiian, she was twenty five years old, had dyed her hair pink (my favorite color!) and had a few piercings in her face, but they didn't really bother me.

Ruben and Robin; the blonde dreadlock brothers from Dublin, twenty three and twenty two years old and moved to Hawaii with Denise.

Denise; she had short, brown hair and baggy clothes (she looked more like Leo than what Brooke did), twenty two years old and she called herself Dennis and came from a big family in Dublin as well.

Michelle; short and chubby, native; long, curly hair; twenty four years old.

And Jeremy; also a native with tattoos in his face, and bigger and taller than Gordon and Liam together. I think he was Michelle's brother and twenty six years of age. He was smoking something I knew was illegal, but I didn't care because even he was one of the nicest people I had ever met.

"Gordon, what's up?" Jeremy shouted with a deep voice from the couch with the biggest smile on his face. "Who are your friends?"

"This is my brother Zac and his friends Beatrice and Brooke, they're sisters."

"Wow, everybody here has their siblings except for us." Said Denise, or Dennis, from the couch and pointed at herself and Tanya.

"You must be twins." Said Michelle who had noticed that we looked similar to each other.

"Triplets actually." Said Brooke. "But our third sister didn't want to come with."

"You're the Powerpuff girls!" Dennis exclaimed. "Can you show us something you can do?"

"We're not wizards…" I mumbled.

But Brooke sighed conceited, took the cap off one of her beer bottles and melted it in her hand with her laser.

"Wow!" said Tanya and ran to her computer in the corner of the room. "What kind of music are you listening to?"

"Joshie and the Beans?" Brooke asked.

"Okay…" Tanya wrinkled her forehead but smiled. "I have never heard of them but here's your song, Brooke!"

"They're kinda new and not that popular yet." Brooke said and squeezed herself in between Gordon and Jeremy.

"Yet!" said Jeremy and laughed. "They're awesome!"

I sat down next to Dennis in the other couch, she seemed interesting enough, and Zac sat down next to me. Ruben and Robin took one pillow each and sat down on them on the floor opposite to us across the coffee table, Tanya took her original place in the chair with Michelle perched on the armrest.

"So… why _Dennis_?" I asked her.

"I don't know; it just sort of happened." Dennis replied. "I grew up with my father and four older brothers. I have always done what they did; inherited their old clothes and stuff my whole life; and their interests. I don't think I have ever seen myself as their younger sister, really."

"Can you… do you like girls?"

Dennis laughed. "Well, no. That's a thing I didn't inherit from my brothers!" Dennis, who was around five years older than me must have seen me as a child with my stupid questions… "I hope you're not bothered by my clothing style?"

"Are you kidding? I love your style!" I said truthfully. Even though I couldn't see myself in her baggy chinos or a baseball cap backwards like that, I appreciate the freedom of wearing whatever kind of clothes you want to.

"Thank you; I love your style, too!"

I think I might have found a new friend.

 **Buttercup**  
When we had been there for an hour I started to like Ruben a bit more. We talked and talked and he was six years older than me. So mature! But then I remembered what Tilly had told me before we flew here, and that was that Zac was in love with me and that I should use him as a temp-guy. I looked his way; there he sat next to Betty and had a lame conversation with Tanya and Michelle who sat in the chair next to the couch. For some reason I felt a little jealous when they laughed at something he said, and Tanya leaned closer to him to hear a little better.

A song was playing from the speakers; one of my favorites actually – When life gives you lemons, by Joshie and the Beans.

"When things turn sour, try to make them sweet.  
Turn something inedible into something to eat.  
When you hit bottom, look to the sky.  
At the edge of the cliff? Spread your wings and fly.  
Everyone falls. So get back up and stand.  
Learn from mistakes, keep giving a hand.  
Life isn't about perfection; it's about doing the best you can.  
It is through experiences both bitter and sweet that you gain wisdom you need to be a man."

It was nine PM; I had drunk almost half a bottle of vodka and thought that maybe… well; why not get Zac to follow me into the bedroom? He looked a little intoxicated as well.

I still felt devastated for what Liam did a month and a half ago, and I really needed to do _something_ to try to get over him. Maybe rumors would be started in school after spring break? Then he would get jealous, and suffer for what he did.

Liam hadn't been calling nor sending any text messages since the first night here… but I didn't miss them anyway!

It wouldn't be more than fair that I had sex with Zac, right? Liam slept with another girl while we were dating; I – a single and free woman – can do whatever I want and by the way; Zac is actually kind of hot.

I looked at his clothes; a tight red and white striped, long sleeved t-shirt; tight, black jeans and a black studded belt. His black hair was almost hiding his beautiful ice blue eyes and his lips were so plump you would be stupid if you didn't want to taste them! He was a typical emo – but he was hot as all hell!

Tanya and Michelle got up from their seats and told Zac they were going into the kitchen; so I got up myself and sat in the chair next to him. "What's up?" I asked him.

"I'm fine, you?"

"I feel great! It's so awesome to finally do something on this stupid vacation. Am I right?"

"Yeah, I know! What did we do at the hotel anyway?"

"Right! Hey… I need to talk to you about something. But not here, care to come with?"

"Sure. Where?"

"To the bedroom."

I stood up and Zac followed me through the living room, astonished; he even looked a bit nervous. The others were talking to each other and didn't even notice that we disappeared.

I sat down on the bed in Tanya's bedroom with a smile; Zac just stood by the door. "Shut the door and sit down."

He shut the door, slowly walked towards me and sat down next to me. "What is it?" he asked, more nervous than before.

"Well… this is the deal… I think that you are really sweet. Sorry that I say it like this, but… I've been thinking about this for a long time now and… it was a good thing that Liam cheated on me. I mean; not _good_ good, but you know what I mean?"

"Oh… okay." He mumbled.

"So… what do you say?"

"Well…" he chuckled nervously. "I've liked you some time now, so thank you, for telling me… I guess."

I leaned forward to kiss him and he kissed me back, but it felt like he didn't really want to. But I already knew that he would hesitate, so to show him what _I_ wanted I pushed him back in the bed so that he lay on his back and I sat on him. Gosh, alcohol makes me brave sometimes.

"Wait…" he mumbled through the kisses.

"What?" I rolled off of him and sat on my knees.

"Don't you think it's a bit fast?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I… I have never… I am…"

"A virgin?" I sighed and he nodded.

So that was that plan. The first guy who had ever rejected me; and it was the guy who would have made my night perfect. I could have just sent a message to Liam right away tonight and tell him what had happened, but… when life gives you lemons, it will squeeze its sour juice into your eyes and open wounds, I guess.

 **Don't forget to leave a comment ^^**


	16. Chapter 15 - Games

**Hi again! Since I really wanted to upload something (it has been two weeks today since I did so) and because I don't have time around Christmas to work on this chapter, I will divide this chapter into two parts! Thank you for reading and leave a comment! :)**

 **Games**

 **Professor**  
After the next to last lecture at eight p.m. that Saturday Irene and I went to the bar to receive our free drinks; it was some kind of milkshake in different tastes. They were a little too sweet for my taste but Irene really loved them, so I just nodded along.

We had a discussion about the previous lecture about the amoeba's base pairs and a theory that could make mitosis work faster, when she suddenly tripped on something on the floor and I caught her in the fall.

"How embarrassing, I'm sorry… I'm so clumsy." She straightened out the thin material on her peach colored top and took a step back.

I had noticed her clothes earlier today because the color on her blouse was flattering against her pale skin and made the blue in her eyes to really shine if not more than before.

"Don't worry; I think it's charming in a way." I tried to encourage her like so many times before.

"Oh, goodie then…" she smiled and looked down on her feet while blushing.

"So! Um, where were we? Yes! Professor Rookins had this really interesting thought about the base pairs…" I stopped as Irene's big blue eyes and crooked smile distracted me. "What is it? Do I have something in my face?" I began wiping my mouth in case I had anything from the drink around it.

Irene just kept smiling, but a little more hesitant this time. "No, never mind. I just thought... nothing."

"Yes, what?" I realized that she had given me one of those leads again, and felt embarrassed that I, once again, blew the chance.

"It's silly… I just-"

"Professor Utonium, Professor Jones?" a young woman was walking towards us with a big smile on her face. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something! Professor Utonium, I know so much about your daughters and yourself; you're really a one of a kind genius! And Professor Jones; I have read every one of your books and I just can't be more fascinated of you and your intelligence! You're really a great influence for us women! Please sign this?"

I got shocked because of the interruption – I thought that this moment was going to be something wonderful – but the young woman's expression and hopeful smile got me thinking about other things.

"Sure!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, of course!" said Irene and took the paper and the pen the woman handed to her. "Have… a… very… successful… life… and study… hard… to reach… your goals. Who am I signing this for?"

"Melissa Andersen!"

"Melissa A… Signed by Professor Irene P. Jones."

Irene gave me the paper and I signed it as well. Melissa thanked us a hundred times and walked away with the biggest smile yet.

"Something tells me that that wasn't your first time signing a paper for your fans, I recon?" Irene laughed once we stood in a corner of the room with our milkshake drinks.

"I _am_ some kind of celebrity." I joked, and was sincerely hoping it didn't sound like I was bragging.

But Irene kept giggling. "Amazingly enough; it wasn't my first time either."

"No?"

"I have actually signed my autograph… hm… one time before this."

We both laughed.

"Hey… Do you want to skip the last lecture and go to a restaurant instead? It's on me."

"Sure!" she said excitedly, it was almost as if she couldn't wait until I had finished the question, and looked at me with her piercing blue eyes and a wide smile.

So… beautiful. My legs were shaking all the way out of the hotel.

 **Blossom**  
Dennis had so many interesting things to talk about! Her whole life was exciting and adventurous; she grew up in a small apartment with her father and four brothers after her mother had died when she was six years of age; when she started the new school she met Robin who was her age and they instantly became best friends.

She met Robin's big brother Ruben on her nineteenth birthday and since that day they are inseparable, all three of them.

When they cut school five years ago Ruben paid all their trips over the world so that they could find jobs and just live their lives to the fullest. Dennis told me he had won a lottery just before they all decided to travel around the world, but she didn't tell me how much he had won, of course.

They had been in Germany, Africa, Australia, China, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, France – they never stayed in one place longer than four months and came to Hawaii about a month ago.

"We found Tanya who said that we could stay here and at Jeremy's for a while. Sure, we won't live in their apartments for four months, but we hope that we will find something soon."

"But do you never get home sick? Don't you miss your family?" I asked her.

"Well, of course." She said and turned the cap so that it pointed forwards. "We go home in between the trips and are home for about a week until we travel to the next place."

/The rest of the evening Robin engaged us all in something he called a "tequila race". First you put salt on you hand and lick it off, then you drink a shot glass of tequila and after that you suck on a lemon (this is where Robin's lemons came in handy). And then you do these three steps again, and again, and again…

A dangerous game since I got really drunk…

 **Buttercup**  
I sat on the edge of Tanya's bed with my face buried in my hands.

"You're not crying, are you?" Zac asked me, carefully.

"Of course I', not. I'm embarrassed." I replied angrily. "Maybe I should go back to the hotel."

"Don't." he pledged. "I understand that you're sad about Liam… we can still try and be friends?"

"Sure." I chuckled sarcastically. What a wimp. Step up, man!

"Yes, but please don't leave. We shouldn't separate like this. Let's go out to the others." He took my hand and led me to the door.

"It's just… Zac, the thing is…" he let go of my hand and took his other hand away from the door knob. "I actually _like_ you. You have _the_ most awesome eyes." I confessed.

"Thanks." He smiled. "But you don't know me."

"You don't know me, either." I pointed out.

"I know more about you than you think."

"What are you, a stalker?"

He laughed. "No, but I'm not having my head in the sand, either. You know; every time you talk, I listen."

"It doesn't mean that you know me."

"Okay…" Zac looked up in the ceiling before looking at me again. "Your favorite colors are green, black, grey and brown; your sisters are Beatrice and Rebecca. Before you were Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles. Your birthday is August twenty second; your fist boyfriend was Liam Berger, former Butch Jojo-"

"You _are_ a stalker!" I laughed, even though I found Zac annoying as usual. "We're famous; you can read all of that in magazines and on the Internet… except for the last one, of course…"

"Maybe. Now say something you know about me."

"Touché." I was right from the start; Zac is so weird and annoying! "But you still don't know anything private about me."

"Maybe not, but I hope to get to know you better. Not like this; on a party and have sex with you to make your ex-boyfriend jealous."

Oh, wow, at least he's being honest! Of course he understood what I was planning; now I had hurt his feelings.

I didn't really want it to come to this; but I am too selfish to control myself. "Do you want to get to know me now?"

I wasn't going to give up just yet. If it so makes me to pretend to be in love with someone else to get over Liam, then I wanted to do it properly! Even though it's in an emo nerd… I know; I'm selfish! But I'm starting to get desperate.

 **Professor**  
We found a nice outdoor dining with candles on the tables near the beach. We ordered two glasses of white wine and a plate of oysters to share.

"So, John…" Irene seemed to like to call me by my first name and giggled. "Where did you grow up?"

"I actually lived in New York when I was a boy, but when my father passed away my mother wanted us to move back to her home town; Charleston, South Carolina."

"I'm so sorry. How old were you?"

"Thirteen, so I didn't inherit the southern accent." I replied.

"Go on."

"When I was old enough to move out – when I was twenty five, in other words…" I joked and Irene giggled again. "… I moved to Townsville where I heard that they had this super laboratory, inter alia, so I just couldn't resist."

"So, wait… before you moved to Townsville; did you go to the Technological Institute of California?" she must have read that on my wiki page.

"Exactly."

"You said _inter alia_. Was there another reason to move to Townsville; of all places to live?"

I grieved for that question but decided to be honest: "I met a woman who lived there."

"Of course." Irene said with a look of empathy. She knew something went wrong; or else I would have still been with her today. "What happened?"

"Well… She left me a week after our engagement."

"I am so sorry." Irene patted my hand on the table and looked at me with big eyes.

"… for my brother Eugene."

"Oh…" she mumbled. "Wow… Again; I'm so sorry for that. Are you still in contact with him?"

"We made up again after a couple of years, but I have still not met him after that; he is always too busy." … _or maybe he's still embarrassed for what he did_ , I thought.

"I'm really sorry." Irene repeated with shiny eyes.

"But that's in the past! Nothing to hang on to." I hurried to say. I didn't want to dig in that hole again – I had a beautiful woman in front of me in the present, for crying out loud! I need to prepare for the future.

It was like Irene could read my minds; so to change the subject she asked: "So when did you decide to make the biggest experiment in history and invent the girls? Oh, sorry… such a bad choice of word… Of course I didn't mean experiment or invent-"

"It's okay!" I hurried to say. Irene was on her way of feeling dumb again and I hated when that happened. "I invented them when I was thirty eight years of age. I was lonely. The plan was to make a child for myself as I didn't really like pets, and decided that _girls_ was the way to go. I needed company and – of course – I wanted my own daughters to raise and take care of. The ingredients chosen were sugar, spice and everything nice. But it's like the legend says; my lab assistant; Mojo the chimpanzee; pushed me so that I accidentally added the Chemical X in the concoction…"

"… thus, the Powerpuff girls were born." Irene continued with a low voice, impressed.

"How about you? Where did you grow up?"

"Townsville; born and raised; but I moved to Forestville after the divorce with Zac and Gordon's father. We needed a big house to our own and our dogs. I bought the best and cheapest house I could find – a renovation project which I'm still not finished with. At first Gordon stayed with his dad and Zac and I lived alone; so I enrolled Zac to Forestville's High school."

"So why did Zac switch schools now?"

"He didn't really… have any friends in Forestville and it killed me to see him being so lonely. I kind of forced him to move to his father and to attend Townsville High; but he comes home on the weekends. I had Gordon every other weekend at my house in the beginning too, but… he liked it better in the city."

"Because of his friends?"

"Well… that, and another thing, as well – but that's a rather private family problem, you know? Let's just say that he rather stays with his father and their half-sister Jenna, while Zac sometimes handle stuff a bit better out in the woods."

"It must be lonely in that big house by yourself?"

"I have the dogs!" Irene laughed. "But of course; sometimes you need a person to talk to."

"I don't have any plans on week days. Maybe I can come over and help you renovate and… take the dogs for a walk?"

She giggled and blushed. "That sounds like a terrific idea! I hope you don't mind a flock of mischievous German shepherds and noisy Labradors!"

"No problem!"

"By the way; I feel so dumb that I haven't asked you yet; but when's your birthday?" she asked a little shamefacedly.

"Lucky you asked now and not later; I'll turn an important age this year on May the forth."

"Forty?"

"Fifty…" I corrected her and felt the heat spreading over my face. Did she really think that I was ten years younger? Maybe that's why she agreed to going on these dates with me?

"Oh, I know, John… I was just messing with you." Irene's face was turning even redder than mine; she had tried to flirt with me and I acted as clumsy and dumbfounded as usual.

"But thank you; for thinking that I still look young." I laughed, tried to smooth it out. "When's your birthday?"

"I'll turn thirty three in a week." She whispered, with heavy eyelids, and a smile was dancing across her perfect lips.

Yikes! What is this young, beautiful woman doing with an old man like me? But I got to eat my own words when she leaned over the table to kiss me. Finally!

/Irene left my room and went back to her room, which she is sharing with her sons, around one in the morning. I was exhausted but wasn't going to be able to go to sleep just yet. Now that I could finally think straight again, something suddenly struck me after a quick calculation in my head… Was she only sixteen years old when she gave birth to Zac?

 **Bubbles**  
A glass of orange juice was standing next to me on the steps outside our house. The sun gave warmth to my legs which started to turn brown. A gentle wind felt cool on my body.

I heard – through the door which was open – that someone went up the stairs in the house, to my room, and I wondered who it could be.

While I took one step after another, with one hand on the railings, my heart began pounding. The door to my bedroom stood ajar and when I reached it I peeked inside. There, on my soft silk bed with feathers dancing around above it lay Leo. He looked at me with eyes I knew from our special nights together. His curly hair hid his eyes a bit and he was all nude; but he hid his private parts with one of the pillows.

"Becca…" he whispered with his soft, angelic voice. "Why are you just standing there?"

The butterflies in my stomach began fluttering around and I felt the heat all the way down to my toes. He was way too beautiful. With his long, slim body, not too skinny and with a hint of abs. I slowly walked closer to him and he gave me a crooked smile.

When I woke up I didn't know what was up and what was down. Where was I? Why was it dark? Where is Leo? Suddenly I remembered that I was still on the hotel in Honolulu and felt embarrassed for what I had dreamt. I knew my thoughts were mine; but what if I had been talking in my sleep? Or maybe even made weird noises?

I thought about the dream again and started to miss Leo, in more than one way. So I cheated.

I made no sound flying across the room and opened the door; then I flew down the stairs and all the way home to Townsville. I knocked on Leo's window. It took him thirty seconds to wake up and understand what was happening.

He opened the window with messy hair and yawned. "What are you doing here?" he asked while yawning and smiling at the same time.

"I had a dream and… I missed you." I replied, but before he got the chance to answer I put my arms around his neck and ran through his hair with my fingers.

"Oh… _that_ kind of dream." He lifted me up and carried me to his bed without letting go of my lips.

/The next morning I left his side highly reluctant.

"Please… stay another hour." He mumbled and hugged me tighter as I tried to stand up from the bed.

"But it's seven a.m. I need to lie down in my bed at the hotel and pretend that I've been there all night."

"Is it forbidden for you to be here?"

"Of course not… but we're on vacation and Professor can't find out that I have been spending the night with you."

"I miss you already." He whispered and let go of me.

I kissed him passionately for a few seconds, and then I walked to the window and opened it. "I love you." I said before flying off.

It almost felt like a real good bye (Professor had this talk with me one night and told me that everything feels like the end of the world for a teenage girl – now I understand what he meant by that.) But I forgot to tell him that we were coming home tonight. Oh well, then he will get another surprise!

 **Buttercup**  
So now Zac and I was going to take it slow to see where this is going. I'm currently dating a nerdy emo boy named Zac Jones, who furthermore is a virgin! That is _so_ not my style but he is really cute.

It was Sunday, nine a.m., and I had just gotten up and went into the "living room" in our hotel room and found Betty sitting on the couch with her face in her hands.

"Hung-over?" I asked as I stretched my body and went for the mini fridge.

"Mm…" was all she had to say before jumping off the couch and ran to the bathroom.

I promised myself not to tease her about all the embarrassing little details she might have forgotten about.

Becca wasn't in their bedroom either; I guessed she was on an adventure already somewhere on the island to make up for all the boringness from yesterday. She had been texting me a few times during the night, reminding me that we had ditched her.

"I'll take you to the restaurant downstairs once you feel better." I told Betty through the bathroom door.

"Okay…" she whispered from the other side of the door right before I heard splashing in the toilet bowl.

She actually got really drunk last night… When Zac and I left Tanya's bedroom I found Betty sitting in the couch next to the Dennis-girl and talked about traveling around the world. After another hour she had gotten so drunk from all the tequila shots she hardly could speak. So the whole group decided to take a walk around the area to try and sober her up but I almost had to carry her into the apartment again. Inside the apartment she was just loud and sang and stuff like that… An ordinary drunkening for my inexperienced sister.

She was lucky that Tanya and her friends were almost as drunk as her and didn't notice how childish she behaved; they actually thought that she was funny and even sweet.

"I'll never drink again…" she mumbled from the bathroom before a new cascade of yesterday's left overs hit the toilet water.

 **Professor**  
The bags were packed, the girls were showered, my shirt was tucked in and Irene waited for us – for me – by the entrance of the hotel's restaurant. We were all going to eat brunch before the plane left at half past twelve.

The girls could actually just fly home if they wanted to with the help of their superpowers, but I think that it's so much more comfortable sitting on a plane in a first class seat than to fly with the g-force from a thousand miles per hour (not to mention that it would kill me). And since they didn't want to leave my mortal and fragile body to faith; they took the plane with me.

And since I was taking the plane like a normal mortal I got more quality time with Irene who – lo and behold – is a mortal too and have to take the plane with me. I'd made a few arrangements so that we took the same plane as she home; otherwise we would have stayed two more days in Honolulu.

The two families sat down at one table and started to eat our food and I looked over to Gordon, Irene's youngest son, who looked a bit… weary. What on earth was he doing last night? Didn't he sleep? He spent the evening with Blossom and…

I immediately looked at Buttercup who had just the same tired, red eyes and shaky hands… and so did Blossom. They're in so much trouble when we get home.

"What are we going to do today?" Blossom mumbled. I heard on her voice that she was planning to sleep the hangover off in her room today and my blood started to boil.

"We're going home today; didn't I tell you that?" I tried to stay calm.

"Oh… yeah." Blossom mumbled and squinted with her eyes.

"I had forgotten about that." Said Buttercup.

"Me too." Said Blossom.

"Three days ago I told you that we were going home on Thursday. Today is Thursday. Don't you remember that?" I nagged them; I wanted their heads to hurt.

"Vaguely…" Blossom whispered and poured another glass of orange juice and drank it all in one gulp.

They are really going to get what they deserve when we get home!

 **Blossom**  
Professor knew that Brooke and I had been drinking alcohol the last night on Hawaii. I felt so ashamed… His face when he turned to me after he had been scolding Brooke… It was expected from her to do something like that; but me? After he had sent Brooke to her room he turned to me with red face and… the life seemed to leave his body and all his muscles relaxed. And he told me:

"I never expected you to misbehave like this but… I guess it's a package deal when it comes to teenagers."

Disappointment is a far worse punishment than anger. And now we're both grounded for three weeks but he said that he wanted to lock us in forever. But I guess he can't stand being in the same house as us for that long.

 **Bubbles**  
The weekend was going to be amazing! Mathilda and Leo's birthdays were only one day apart; Mathilda's first and Leo's the day after. So first we were going to have a girls' night at Mathilda's and the weekend after we were going to celebrate Leo at his house. He wanted it to me a masquerade party for some reason, but it was going to be so much fun!

Mathilda's big sister had given her some kind of card deck for her birthday; and it wasn't any other card deck, Mathilda outlined for us, but instead of numbers and aces, kings, queens and jacks, it had a bunch of different sentences on it. Some of them said, for example: " _the one who has the longest hair_ " or " _the one who is the most happy_ " and stuff like that. It was a game for you and a group of friends and the one ending the game with the most cards wins. The loser had to call their crush and confess to him that they loved him.

Somehow I was going to try and lose the game, because then nobody had to embarrass themselves since I had Leo to call to.

"I don't like the thought of comparing ourselves to one another…" I mumbled once we all sat in Mathilda's bed with a pillow each in our laps.

"Yes, it's going to be so much fun!" said Jessica and took the deck from Mathilda, she read: "'The one with the biggest eyes'…"

"Becca!" said Henrietta, took the card Jessica had been reading from and gave it to me.

"Well, thanks…" I said, determined not to have any fun.

Mathilda took the deck from Jessica and read out loud on the next card: "Wow! 'The one with the biggest boobs'!"

"Henrietta!" Ginger laughed.

"Of course; I'm the fattest one here."

"Stop it." I said, hurt by her words and started to really hate this game. But Henrietta laughed, squished her breasts between her arms and took the card from Mathilda who did the same movement and laughed.

Mathilda read on the next card: "'The one who is not all American'. That must be you, Jess."

"Part Japanese!" Jessica said proudly and received her first card and waved it in front of our noses.

"Okay… 'The one who usually is the leader'. Me?" Mathilda asked us, a bit hopeful since she wanted her first card.

"Yes." The rest of us mumbled and rolled our eyes but smiled.

"Thanks! Okay; 'the one who has found… her Prince Charming.'" She sighed with glittery eyes and handed me the card without even hearing what the others had to say about that. They all just said "aaw" as I took the card.

In this rate I will never lose! I already have two cards! "But Ginger's found her Prince Charming, too!" we all looked at her. "Ginger?"

"Is something wrong with Clyde?" Henrietta asked.

"I don't know…" Ginger mumbled. "He seems a bit… absent-minded for the moment. It's like he's not even interested anymore."

"But you've only been dating for four months!" Mathilda exclaimed. "You just can't have gotten sick of each other already. He lives all across town; you're not even seeing each other every day!"

"No… I don't know. Maybe it's just me who turned out to be uninteresting."

Mathilda, Henrietta, Jessica and I all began chanting:

Mathilda: "That's ridiculous! He's a jerk!"

Henrietta: "Are you crazy? You're like super sweet and super funny!"

Jessica: "Don't say that! That's not true at all!"

Me: "Stop it. Maybe it's something else?" I put my hand on her knee. "Maybe he's going through a rough patch right now; and just don't know how he's acting towards you. Ask him, and you'll see it has nothing to do with you."

"Mathilda, what are you doing?" Henrietta asked.

Mathilda put her cell phone to her ear. "Shh, shh, there's signals!"

"Are you _calling_ him?!" Ginger shouted with wide eyes.

"Of course not- Hi, Clyde!" said Mathilda and interrupted herself. Ginger hid her red face in the pillow. "Hey, I was just wondering if you're coming to Leo's party this weekend. It's his birthday, you know… Yeah, okay. No, I was just wondering! See you there!"

When she hung up we all stared at her. Henrietta spoke first: "What the heck are you doing?"

"Calm down, guys, this will all sort itself out. And you, Ginger; you'll play hard to get at Leo's party."

 **Buttercup**  
Today's Liam's birthday party… Besides, I don't care, so… Well, maybe a little. I felt the need to buy him something, but just as I thought about what he would like the most I started thinking about him with Olivia instead. It has been almost two months since our fight in the gym, and I had this weird feeling that I both missed him to death and in the same time hated him just as much.

I have Zac now; I had to think over and over again.

Surely I'm still not in love with him yet, but I hope that I will be some day. I don't actually care about Zac more than a piece to make Liam jealous with, and so that I finally can get over him.

/The first day in school after the spring break I walked next to Zac from the lockers to the class, and we ran into Liam who hopped, slowly, in front of us. He had his crutches even though he didn't have his cast anymore, but I had heard that he had broken his leg so maybe he needed them to strengthen his muscles.

He turned around just as I asked Zac: "What are you doing tonight? Maybe you want to come over and study?"

"Sure…" Zac said and looked at Liam in front of us; maybe he was afraid that Liam was going to get mad if he said yes? "I need to study for the Biology."

"Yeah, me too. I need all the help I can get."

Liam kept hopping on one leg a little faster than before. I really enjoyed his misery all the way to the classroom, which Liam chose not to go in to, but continued to the exit and disappeared the rest of the day.

/He was surrounded but a bunch of girls the next day (his birthday) – a hard proof of that he wanted to make me jealous. But that didn't work.

/The third day he passed me with his group of friends from the basketball team, and they all whispered about me. I guess Liam was revealing some of my secrets that I had told him, and finally I got mad. But I kept calm.

/I didn't see him at all the fourth day and the day after that; Friday; I found him sitting on a bench at the schoolyard, all by himself, looking down on the ground. I felt the greatest need of wanting to cheer him up, but just as I thought that, Olivia ran to him and sat down next to him. He didn't know I was around, because if he did he would have let her stay, but he actually shooed her away and she was off again with her chin in the air.

/Today's his birthday party. Becca is going to celebrate Leo (the three brothers are inviting all of their friends and are having the party together) and if it had been a fair world then I would've been there tonight too. Well, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm grounded as well.

In spite of all of this I had been training my squad all week and in a few weeks we will participate in the big cheerleading event in Cali. I hope for the best – fingers crossed.

 **Bubbles  
** _Friday, April 9_  
Leo got extremely surprised when we came home from Hawaii the same day as I had been spending the night with him, and that was now one and a half weeks ago. Mr. and Mrs. Berger invited me for dinner since it was Leo's and his brothers' eighteenth birthday today and tomorrow was the party starting.

Even though Leo gave Liam a CD with his favorite band and a pair of headphones with a mic to Luke; they never gave Leo anything on their birthday. But Leo didn't care about that; he was always doing stuff like this and never expected anything in return – that's what I love about him.

"And this is for you, hun." He said when we were in his bedroom after dinner. He gave me a wrapped present.

"Why?" I asked.

Leo put his hands on my waist and got closer to me with tiny steps. I shivered from the touch. "Because I never got the chance to give you something on your birthday." He kissed my forehead and backed away to his bed were he sat down.

I looked down on the wrappings which was golden with red string, the little present was about *seven centimeters, square and light. I swallowed; what could it be?

Just as I was pulling the string I heard someone running up the stairs and opened Leo's door. It was Mrs. Berger. "Professor Utonium called and said that there was a bomb in the kindergarten."

I dropped the little golden box with red string on the bed and flew out the window.

 **Blossom**  
Mayor called my cellphone telling me that someone had planted a bomb in one of Pokey Oaks kindergarten's facilities. I arrived first, but didn't expect Brooke and Becca to be late either and they landed next to me only a few seconds later. A bunch of police officers stood behind the cordons and behind their cars and waited for us. They always called me and my sisters in instead of a professional bomb team because we were much quicker and it was unlikely that we got hurt if the bomb exploded. So I took this class a few years ago to learn about different bombs and now I count as an expert, according to Mayor.

"Should we talk to them?" I heard one of the officers whisper to another.

"They're the Powerpuff Girls, for Pete's sake. They will find the bomb quick enough." Said the other.

"Do you know which room it is in?" Brooke asked and flew to the windows to look in.

"Do you see anything?" I asked back.

"Here!" shouted Becca who had flown to the other side of the building.

"See?" the second officer whispered to his partner behind me.

Brooke and I jumped over the one story building and looked into the window on the backside. In the big room where we had been educated as children we saw two men with bullet proof vests standing around something that looked like a suite case I front of the teachers table. We opened the back door and stepped inside.

"Gentlemen." Said Brooke and I rolled my eyes.

"So what is it?" I asked the two men.

"It's a bomb, miss." One of them replied (he had dark hair and a goatee) and Brooke, Becca and I sighed.

"What kind?" Brooke said impatiently.

"We're not sure, really…" the other one said as I got closer to the suite case to have a look. He was bald with a mustache.

"Can we open it?" I asked.

"We're not sure." Said the bald one again.

"Alrighty then…" I leaned closer to it and picked it up so carefully that even Indiana Jonson would be jealous. I inspected it from every angle but couldn't put my finger on what kind of bomb it was. "I think we have to destroy it above the planet… I don't even know how powerful it is."

"Fingerprints." Said Becca and looked at the bomb with her microscopic vision. "No fingerprints…" she then sighed.

"Of course." Said Brooke. "It would've been too easy if we had any leads…"

"Well, it's only twenty seconds left so I better destroy it." Said I, took the bomb gently between my hands, slowly walked out of the building and then flew up in the sky. The bomb exploded from the pressure just before we left the ozone and disappeared into a million pieces.

"What was wrong?" Becca asked as I landed on the ground again outside the kindergarten.

"I don't know. But whoever made that bomb was really smart. It was just so… advanced; a very different technology than what I have ever seen. And I have seen a few…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, miss bomb expert." Said Brooke and rolled her eyes. "Is there anything you're not _the best_ in?"

"Hey…" mumbled Becca and poked Brooke with her elbow; she didn't want us to fight.

And that was all the action Brooke and I had had today; Professor have turned us into slaves so we've been cleaning the entire house for three days straight now – without our superpowers…

 **Bubbles**  
After the whole bomb ordeal was out of my way I flew back to Leo's. Betty and Brooke let me leave them to deal with the paper work so that I could continue the celebrating of my boyfriend. He had been worrying over me the entire time we were gone and thought that I was going to get injured. Oh, sweet Leo… it's like he sees me as a normal girl and that I'm mortal or something. LOL!

/Saturday was here and Mr. and Mrs. Berger decided to rent a room at the Townsville hotel so that the brothers could have their friends over for a party. That's actually really nice of them; letting their eighteen year old sons have a party without parental supervision… Of course Professor found out that Leo's parents weren't going to be home, but he trusted me enough.

Only fifteen minutes had passed since Mr. and Mrs. Berger had left the house and it was already filled with Liam and Luke's friends from school and some of Leo's. I can even count Leo's guests on my fingers; me, Betty and Dainton (Professor gave her and Brooke a break, but Brooke wasn't coming either way), Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica and Henrietta and Leo's closest friends Zac, Simon and Clyde.

A week prior to today Leo, Luke and Liam decided that this was going to be a costume party (even though it's April) and I was going as little red riding hood; I had refused to wear the nurse costume that Leo tried to buy me; and he was going as a pilot with a moss green coverall and aviators.

When Betty arrived with Dainton (who was the big bad wolf to match with me) I noticed that she hadn't dressed up.

"I am Blossom!" she laughed.

I looked closer at her and now I saw the pink dress with a black belt around her belly. Even a little red bow was holding her pony tail up.

"Oh, yeah! Blossom!" I exclaimed. "Come in. _Now_ you're welcome!"

I took a seat next to Leo in the dining room where Mathilda, Ginger, Jessica, Henrietta, Zac, Simon and Clyde had occupied almost all eight chairs. They were playing "go fish" with a normal card deck and with a sting in my heart I noticed how Clyde tried to discretely get away from Ginger when she tried to take his hand. It was horrible.

"Spin the bottle? Anyone?" Simon sighed and looked really bored.

"Yes!" Mathilda shouted. "Then maybe we can share our first kiss, Simon!" so typical Mathilda; she had never been afraid of saying whatever she was thinking of; and I loved her for that!

"I was just kidding…" Simon mumbled.

"No, come on, let's play." Said Henrietta.

"Are we twelve years old?" Clyde snubbed.

"I want to spin the bottle; I want to kiss someone today! Do you want to play with me, Ginger?" Mathilda asked.

Ginger shrugged her shoulders a little. She looked so hollow…

"Do you have an empty coco-cola bottle anywhere, Leo?" I asked him.

"I'll get it." He replied and kissed my head as he stood up to go to the pantry. That guy really did everything for me; no matter how stupid my suggestions may sound.

We filled the empty bottle with water and sat down, in a circle, on the living room floor where Leo pulled the coffee table away. Simon and Clyde sat down in the already overflowed couches to show that they really didn't want to participate in the game.

"Come on, you wimps. Are you afraid of cooties?" Leo teased them and Zac, who wanted to support us girls and sat in the circle with us, laughed.

"Are you going to play 'spin the bottle'?" a girl; whom I didn't know from school; asked with her group of girl-friends behind her. They must've been Liam or Luke's friends.

"Yes! Take a seat in the circle, girls!" said Mathilda. She looked at a gang of guys who was checking the girl group out. The more the merrier, I guess.

Mathilda, Jessica, Henrietta and I sighed when Clyde; who had watched the new girls find their places on the floor with us; quickly slid down the couch and joined the circle together with Simon. I glanced at Ginger who looked at Clyde with big, sad eyes… Oh, my God, what a douche bag he is.

The gang of guys who had been watching the group of girls joined as well and we were now eight girls and seven guys in total that were going to spin the bottle. I was starting to change my mind about this stupid game – what if I had to kiss a stranger? Zac, Simon and even Clyde would've been okay if I kissed them on the cheek, but now there were three new guys that I didn't even know the names of… And what if I said no to one of them? Then everyone would think that Leo was one of those jealous guys who didn't let his girlfriend do anything he disagreed to.

I glanced at Leo who worryingly watched the new guys find seats in the circle; from the looks of them they apparently played football (so Luke's friends then) and then looked at me while biting the inside of his cheek. I think he was thinking the same. But when he noticed that I looked at him too he glued a smile on his face as if he said: _what a silly game, but at least we're having fun_.

The game started when Mathilda spun the bottle and more and more people wanted to join. Even the ones who had been in the basement (where Liam was having his own party with alcohol and a pool table) wanted to play with us "nerds".

Mathilda finally had her first kiss with Simon, and as she was giggling like crazy I began to strategize on how to sneak Ginger out before she had to see Clyde kiss another girl.

It was Simon's turn to spin.

Betty and Dainton sat in one of the white couches and snuggled and discussed the music without noting what was happening around them, until…

Olivia arrived and sat down next to me. To me! Dainton took Betty's hand and dragged her out the back door; she didn't look like she wanted to leave Olivia alone.

The bottle spun slower and slower and landed on Olivia. She smiled to herself before crawling across the circle to kiss Simon, and now it was her turn to spin.

Only a few seconds later it, of course, stopped on Leo who sat on my other side and she started to wink flirtatiously at him.

"Forget it." I heard myself growl and didn't let her out of my sight.

"Come on, Becca, it's only a game!" Clyde shouted from across the wide circle. Apparently he hadn't heard what she had done to my family.

"Pass." Said Leo without making a face. I didn't see his eyes because of the shades but I guess they looked really mad behind them.

"But it's like 'e said." Said Olivia and pointed at Clyde. "It's only a game. Ze bottle decided who I was going to kiss."

The music was blaring from the speakers and everybody was waiting.

"Pass." Leo repeated with a chuckle and shrugged his shoulders, as if he was unable to do anything about it. "I'd rather shoot myself in the face."

Olivia stared at him. Just before his comment she had been trying to penetrate his eyes with her seductive gaze, but now she looked pissed and frustrated. Idiot, as if she was allowed to kiss _my_ guy.

After a while Ginger got to kiss Zac and two of the guys from the football's team, but the bottle never landed on Clyde.

/Olivia tried to get close to Leo all night after that. She tried to talk to him, touch him and even stroke his arm at one point… I feel nauseous just thinking about it. But Leo didn't leave my side even for one second and dragged me around under his arm, and every time Olivia tried to get close again he only held me tighter to show her that he was mine – and I his.

Eventually he grew sick of her and kicked her out – something he had never done to a person before – and told her that if she ever put her foot on his property again he was going to tell me to kick her ass. LOL!

Nothing special happened between Ginger and Clyde that night, except that Clyde left with a bunch of people without telling her... So while Ginger cried Mathilda, Jessica, Henrietta and I tried to convince her to dump him.

/Liam was sleeping ten minutes to twelve; Luke and his friends were gone and the rest had left the house. I helped Leo clean up and then I went home and tucked myself in. Now it was finally quiet.

 **Blossom**  
The party was really fun, until Olivia came. How dare she come close to us again? Who even invited her? Well, maybe Liam… But he didn't seem to care about her at the party and she didn't care about him. I just don't understand…

What was odder was that Luke talked to me again. It was several months ago since we talked to each other; on Christmas Eve actually; but he didn't seem to want to become friends with me then, so why even try? But he actually talked to me at the party when Olivia was gone and Dainton was in the bathroom. He just sat down on the armrest on the chair I was sitting in.

"Hi, Blossom!" he said happily. He didn't smell alcohol at all, so where was the self-esteem coming from? Or was he planning on messing with me?

"Hi, Luke." I said awkwardly. I didn't know if I wanted to be nice or suspicious.

Luke didn't have a costume; just his normal red cap on his long ginger hair and baggy clothes. "You like the party?"

"Yeah, sure. You?"

"Yes! I see that you're _small_ You. With the dress and everything."

"Well, yeah…" I tried to smile.

"You wanna fight? You know, like the old days!"

"I would've kicked your ass. Even you know that, Luke." My fighting instinct was triggered as Luke raised his fists in front of him, but I tried to relax.

"Okay, _excuse_ me, then!" he backed away and chuckled. "I just thought it would be fun to role play now that you look like that, I mean."

I gave him a crooked smile. If it wasn't alcohol then it must be something else that he was intoxicated on...

Luke took off his cap to comb his hair back and then put the cap on again. "Oh, well, it was nice of you to come." He started to steer his steps towards the hallway.

"Yeah, happy birthday, by the way."

"Thanks." Even though he smiled he looked a bit disappointed, as if I had been rude or something, before he left the room.

Maybe I _was_ rude to him? I regret that I wasn't nicer to him now that he actually tried to become friends with me, or whatever that was. But all I had done was to dismiss him like he was yesterday's news.

 **Buttercup**  
Finally it was here! The contest we've all been waiting for!

The dance my squad and I had been practicing on was _the_ best dance ever! We were going to make every other cheerleading team to feel like amateurs! We had been practicing new moves, jumps and chants; and we had an all new song that Jake Green had composed for us. If you remember him… But he was sweet enough to let us use it. Of course I had been listening through it a couple of times to see if he had hidden any secret messages or anything to embarrass us; but it was just top notch! Lots of drum and bass and rhythm – perfection!

/I woke up six a.m. Sunday morning, April fourteenth, and started to get ready. The bus trip to San Francisco, California, was going to be going on for at least four hours so I wanted to be ready for that. I could just fly and arrive in a second, but since I'm the team captain I wanted to support my team. The bus was leaving the school bus stop at eight, so I had a lot of time.

I started with a big breakfast containing two pieces of toast with marmalade; a bowl of porridge; a cup of tea and a glass of orange juice. Then I packed two apples and a banana to snack on on the bus. For lunch Professor had made a chicken salad, and he, Betty and Becca was going to drive down there behind the bus. It was really nice of him to come and to drive all the way down there… but then he wanted to make sure that I didn't do anything stupid in Cali.

/I sat next to Tilly in the far front of the bus and Robin was behind us next to Amber. Sometimes I stood up to talk in the microphone by the driver to pep everybody and keep everyone awake and alert. Coach Terrence, who had the seat closest to the driver right behind the bus door, was as awkward as usual and read the sports paper. He wasn't as interested in cheerleading as he was in basketball and football; but he was the coach so he _had_ to follow us everywhere to support us.

/About half way to San Francisco I thought about Zac for the first time through the morning. Last time I saw him was Friday, in school, and since this contest was coming up I had been busy all weekend. I wasn't grounded anymore so I promised myself to make plans with him soon. I liked him a lot now, now that I know him a bit better, but I was still not really _in love_ with him… it'll come, it'll come.

/We practiced on the dance a few times in one of the small rooms that were dedicated for practicing before the contests.

Once it was our turn to compete I didn't feel nervous at all; it felt so nice being free from that stupid house and that stupid school. During one move where I ran backwards, behind the squad, I saw the new girl (Claire, I haven't told about her) mess up. But I don't think that anybody noticed… I hope the judges didn't notice.

When all the schools were done showing their dances – we were fifteen teams in total – the judges began talking scores. They were five judges and all of them had been wearing their poker faces today.

We all crossed our fingers when they started to announce the winners; and it was only ten places.

"… on sixth place; Washington D.C. High!" one of the judges said in the microphone and I started sweating as the crowd was applauding. "… on fifth place; New York High!" what if they didn't even say the name of our school? "… on fourth place; Colombia High!" I gave up and looked down on the floor, but the next second six pairs of hands dragged me into a group hug and we were all screaming as the judge said: "… on third place; Townsville High!"

"We would've won if I didn't mess up at the end!" Claire shouted into the hug with tears in her eyes; if they were happy or angry tears I couldn't determine.

Once we had calmed down and heard who came on second and first place we gathered all our stuff and went to the locker rooms. Coach Terrence took the trophy and told us that he would put it in the trophy cabinet in school tonight so that everybody could see it on Monday, and then we took the bus to a restaurant to celebrate.

Professor, Betty, Becca and Leo was already standing by the entrance to the restaurant and waited to congratulate me.

"You ran away before I had the chance to hug you, sweet pea. Congratulations!" said Professor and gave me a big hug.

"Yikes, thanks, Prof." I said with burning cheeks. He hadn't called me that since I was a kid.

"Congratulations!" Betty and Becca shouted in one voice and threw themselves at me.

Leo too said congrats and we all went into the restaurant with the coach, the rest of the team and their families.

So… we came in third place in the first competition, and now it's only two left. I heard that there will only be three places in the next one, so all we can do is to cross our fingers really tight and work hard.

/The day after in school I met up with Zac. He wanted to take me out for dinner after school to celebrate, and I, of course, said yes.

At lunch break I walked by myself around the school properties to take some fresh air (I swear, I didn't smoke!). Both Robin and Tilly had called in sick today. That's odd considering they were both looking okay at the contest yesterday, and they had invited me to a party that I had said no thanks to. So yeah, I'm guessing they're both hung over.

I saw Liam by the outside basketball course trying to score in one of the hoops, all alone. He looked… sad. As if his whole being had shattered. He had no cast and looked okay now from injuries, but he still had a limp when he went to fetch the ball.

"Brooke!" I heard Zac shout by the parking lot, he stood on the ramp with Leo and two other guys; Leo's friends.

I waved back and began walking over to him and felt Liam's eyes glued to the back of my head.

Zac slid down the ramp and jumped down on the ground to greet me; he started to job towards me with his skateboard under his arm. "What's up?" he asked me as usual.

"I'm fine, you?"

"I'm okay. Hey, I need to tell you something."

"That you kissed my sister's friend at Leo's party a couple of weeks ago?"

"You knew?"

"Yeah, Becca told me."

"How did you know that-"

"You've been acting weird."

"It was just a stupid game and-"

"It's fine!" I cut him off. "Really, it was only spin the bottle – a stupid children's game."

"Are you sure?" he looked at me with his ice blue eyes and I melted.

"Yes. But thank you for telling me."

"I knew I should've done it earlier! It was Clyde; he said-" Zac pointed at one of Leo's friends who immediately starting waving his hand in front of him to try and shut Zac up. "- erm, I mean-"

"It's fine, I swear!" I glanced back at Liam who was still looking at us. "By the way…"

I stood on my toes to kiss his cheek but Zac misread the situation and kissed me right on the lips instead. Well, even better! We hadn't kissed in front of his friends yet but if he feels comfortable enough to do so now then I wouldn't want to be the one to dispute.

Liam limped away to his crutches he had put on a bench near the basketball hoop and then left the court without taking his ball with him.

"Wow, you are really forgiving me?" Zac smiled with his whole face.

"Of course I am. And I'm really looking forward to the dinner tonight."

"Me too." The school bell rang and we started walking towards the school. "What class do you have?"

"P.E. So nothing." I laughed. "I'll just go home and watch a movie or something. You?"

"Chemistry. I wish I had a free period as well."

"I bet. See you at English later."

"Is it okay to kiss you?"

I shrugged my shoulders with a mischievous smile. "Sure."

So we kissed in middle of a crowd and then I flew home. Now it was official.


	17. Chapter 16 - Something new

Thank you **BlossomQ536** for favoriting this story!

 **Something new**

 **Butch**  
After long hours of learning and dark moments of loneliness, I began feeling a bit… bitter. My daily routines had been tempered with and my nights felt awfully restless. Way back I could get any girl I had my eyes on – and feel good about it, but now… well, you're bright enough, right?

Brooke Utonium was the only girl in my eighteen year long life that had made me feel complete. I didn't need these easy, temporary girls anymore; I was once happy with my life. But it's like the rumors said; I had been unfaithful. I had broken the trust the love of my life once had for me, and I have no idea of why. She was the only one who really understood me, the only one who could tame the wild beast inside of me… She was the one who could control the person I didn't want others to see.

Then came the red haired mistress.

What did she have that Brooke didn't have? She's handsome, surely, with pretty hair and has her roots in France – Paris; the city of love, right? She seduced me on a Saturday night – On Valentine's Day, of all days, and I wasn't sober, but not that drunk that I didn't know what I did either.

All I could think of, that night, was that I couldn't spot Brooke anywhere – had she gotten sick of my immature behavior and gone home? Why had I been so rude to her and made this evening so boring for her? I knew how much she wanted to be with me… why didn't I listen?

Everybody knows that it's hard for me to show any feelings at all; it's extremely hard for me. But I realized what I had done when she was gone, as well… I'm not a total dick.

I remember searching for her, asking people if they had seen her anywhere, but the French girl found me first. Her eyes imprisoned me – and no matter how much I'm trying to remember the color of them I can't seem to do so. Brooke was no more when I looked into Olivia's deep and mysterious eyes. I felt it like I had found the most passionate female in my entire existence and she pulled me into my adoptive parents' bedroom. Now I wasn't drunk of alcohol anymore, but by her scent – I belonged to her.

When she left, the angst got to me.

I lay in that bed the rest of the evening with aching belly and pounding heart.

The next day my idiot-self tried to pretend as if nothing had happened – I felt so ashamed over what I had done, of course, even though it didn't feel like it had been me who had done it. And she found me at the end of the day, curled up in the corner like a shamefaced dog, and she punished me.

I… I thought that I was going to die that day.

… but her sisters spared my life.

I wouldn't have judged Brooke if the actually killed me; I deserved every little bit of it. I deserved all the pain she could cause me… and one day true pain came. I saw her with that Emo-boy. Not her taste at all, so why him? She wants to make me jealous, that's a fact that I had already figured out a long time ago. I hadn't had the guts to confront her yet – I know what she's prone to. She is not a pushover, Brooke, and she has that fire inside of her that I love.

Today; She kissed him right in front of me and made sure that I was looking before doing so, and when she did; my sight blackened. I don't know how much darker it could get before I turn blind, so I just left them. That was enough for me. I walked into the school building and stood behind a wall where I could lean and catch my breath. My stomach was cramping, it felt like it was filled with ice – I needed to get Brooke back. I needed to come up with a plan, something like the one at the Yule ball? She fell for me right away! No… It would only appear childish if I tried to trick her again. I know she only wants me to show a bit more… feelings… I have to win her back fair and square.

I heard the door open from my corner and two people entered the hallway from the school yard. It was them. They talked about a dinner they were going to have tonight and he even asked her if he could give her a kiss… That's not how she wants it! I know – because I know her! She wants the guy to be firm and confident. What an amateur.

But I guess she liked it; because they stopped just before turning the corner where I stood and I heard the wet kiss between them and I felt like I wanted to punch a hole in the wall. And when I thought that; this is it, I'm going to lose my mind; I heard her fly away.

He was now standing there, only a few meters away from me, all alone.

"Hey, Emo-kid! I heard that you're fucking my girl." I said and showed myself.

He just stared at me with wide eyes and looked around as if he tried to spot the closest emergency exit. I grabbed him by the arm and the adrenalin began pumping, because of it I couldn't feel my leg so I stood up without the crutches that I had just dropped on the stone floor.

His horrified face and the touch of his skinny, soft, boyish arm let a smile loose over my lips.

"I just want to talk to you, now that your girlfriend can't protect you anymore." Shivers ran down my spines from the word _girlfriend_. I didn't want to kill the kid; I just wanted to scare him a little. "You have three seconds to run, and pray to the Gods that you're fast, because when I get you I'll knock your teeth out. One…" even though I gave him a fair promise and let him think that he could get away I punched him in his stomach, making him gasp for air as I had punched it out of his lungs. "… two…" my knee hit his shoulder (I just wanted him to believe that I was going for his face).

Why, oh, why am I such a horrible person? I sound so reasonable in my head; why can't I give that poor kid a chance?

"… three."

Somehow I decided to be nice for once and only gestured with my fist towards his jaw and he let out a whimper; and then he ran. He was really fast and I heard myself laughing.

/The day after that was, of course, a disaster – _Emo-kid had told mommy_. I sat, like always nowadays, on a bench in the school yard, minding my own business in the sun. Snow still covered the asphalt but the air was warm enough. I heard upset voices arguing and turned to see who it was.

"… please, stop…" Emo-kid whined.

"Why the _fuck_ didn't you tell me right away? ' _I fell on the skateboard ramp_ '; BAH!"

"I can take care of myself. You're only going to make it worse." What a loser.

"Apparently not! LIAM!" her voice when she screams my name; oh, what I have missed it.

I looked up on her when she landed in front of me and met her face that was twisted out of fury. She was really cute when she was angry. "Yeah?" I asked with a smile, a bit cockier than what I had attended to – it sounded polite in my head.

"What the hell?! Didn't you think that beating my boyfriend up would get you in trouble?" she lifted my whole body up by the collar of my shirt. My feet didn't touch the ground anymore.

I didn't _feel_ angry, but all the muscles in my face stiffened and I replied in the rudest tone: "Let me down, you fucking maniac!"

"Not before I'm done with you! Do you want me to refurnish your face this time or is it enough to break your other leg?" how I loved that fire.

"Brooke…" Emo-kid begged.

I waited and she slowly let me down on the ground again. "Come on; I was just playing a little." I laughed even though the situation wasn't funny at all; I could have my other leg broken if I wasn't careful with what I said.

"You played- You-"she stopped herself and sighed heavily. "What the fuck is the matter with you? Stay the fuck out of my life! You had your chance, okay? Leave everything that is related to me alone, got it?"

"Why did you pick that skirt today?" I asked and pointed at the black skirt she had purchased several weeks ago. I was with her that day and I didn't like it back then, either.

"Stay out of it!" she tried to warn me and turned back to Emo-kid and started walking towards school again.

"Why do you always choose clothes you look fat in?" I don't know why I always need to hurt her whilst we're not dating but I guess it is to attract her attention and to make her to talk to me.

/I woke up at the nurse's office…

She told me that Brooke had punched me so hard in my face that I flew backwards and hit the back of my head on the bench, which led me to pass out.

I bet she was expelled from school now, but the school board was very understanding of America's heroines; maybe she was coming back in a few weeks.

 **Professor**  
I was so disappointed in Buttercup that I didn't know what to do anymore. Yeah, sure, I know what she is going through with Liam Berger right now and all, but must she always solve everything with violence? I have no energy left to scold her; it feels like she will never learn anyway! She is only a whim away of ending up in prison and she is only seventeen years old! And now she is expelled from school for two whole months… That means that she will get back when there's only one week left before the summer break this semester!

What do I do to make her understand? I actually asked her… she didn't know.

She regrets what she's done and explained everything to me; that Liam had been roughen Zac up and that she was only trying to stand up for him since he didn't want to make it into a big deal. Zac had explained it as a "guy thing".

I just wish that she could give me something to work with; something to help me understand her and in my turn be able to help her with her anger. But I'm lucky that she knows from right and wrong; it had been much worse if she did things like these without caring, and enjoyed her powers instead of seeing them as a curse. But that is not the case – she is _trying_ at least, and I can't do anything against her own will since she is so much stronger than me. I should know – I am the one who created her.

Well… I don't want to think about this anymore. So let me tell you about something strange that happened one night after I had dropped Irene off at her house in Forestville after a date night at mine. We had had a wonderful night with dinner and wine (alcohol free since I drove her home later), and I saw something white peaking up through the grass next to the trashcan on our driveway. The garbage truck had been emptying the garbage cans around the neighborhood just before I gave Irene a ride home, so I guess that the white thing had just fallen out of one of the bags.

I walked to the fence where ours and the neighbor's trashcans stood next to each other to pick the object up and throw it away again, when I saw what it was… a pregnancy test. It was positive.

I stood still and stared at the test in my hand for several minutes while my heart was pounding and felt a huge pressure in my head. I re-winded the whole night in my head and remembered that Irene had been acting a bit secretly after she had been to the downstairs restroom, and insisted on taking the trash out from the bin in the bathroom and the kitchen, because she knew that the garbage truck would be coming soon. I told her that it was fine, but she insisted.

Why was she so urgent to take the trash out? I caught myself thinking about all of this, and in the same time thinking over and over; _I am not ready, I am too old, I am not ready, I am too old…_

"Professor Utonium, how are you?" the newly wedded woman living next door with her husband came walking from her house with a big smile on her face. "I saw you through the window; you were just standing there. Is something wrong?"

She was young… newly wedded… happy. The test must be hers! Of course she was the one who was pregnant! It can't be anyone else. How could I overreact this greatly? Irene wasn't hiding anything; she was just being polite and helpful.

To not embarrass the young woman I hid the stick in my pocket before she was close enough to see what it was I was holding. "No, no, I'm fine. I was just getting lost in my own thoughts!" I laughed.

"Oh, good!" she said while catching her breath, as if she had been running. "I thought that you had had a stroke and that I was going to have to run inside again to call an ambulance."

Gosh, do I really look that old?

She put her hand on her back and kept breathing heavily. Is that a sign of being pregnant – aching back and heavy breathing?

"Thank you, that was really kind of you. But I'm just fine, don't worry about me. Good night, Mrs. Barkley."

"Good night, Professor Utonium!"

I turned around and went up my driveway again – happy and carefree, and laughed over how dumb I had been – and on the way I threw the little white stick into the trashcan that made the loveliest clink ever.

 **Blossom**  
One Friday morning Dainton gave me a ride to school as usual and when we arrived he went to his own class as I went to mine. Leo was waiting for me in the hallway and we started walking together towards the class.

"Oh, I don't have my lap top with me!" I mumbled and poked Leo before we entered the classroom. "Will you tell Mr. Sterling that I will be back in only a couple of minutes?"

"Sure, no problem." He replied and waved.

I jogged towards the lockers. It would only have taken a second for me to fly there, fetch my computer and then fly back to class again, but we weren't allowed to use our powers inside school properties. And since it was forbidden to run in the hallways as well I could only trust my super hearing and keep watch from the school police.

I took the pink lap top out of my locker and closed the door. I jumped a little as Luke was standing behind it and had spooked me.

"Luke! Hi… I didn't see you." I said. I had forgotten about that he could make himself invisible. "That's not fair; creeping up on people when _we_ can't use our superpowers!"

"I'm sorry about that, Beatrice." Luke nodded stiffly. "Are you in a hurry?"

"Yes, I am." I started walking to the classroom again and Luke followed me. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about? I don't really have time to stop right now."

"I just want to ask you something."

"Shoot." I said and looked at a clock that was hanging on a wall that we passed; it was three minutes past eight.

I was going to keep my unstated promise to be a little nicer to Luke now that he finally had decided to talk to me like a normal person. Well, kind of normal.

"Well…" he said, keeping up with my pace. "I have a hard time with some of the classes and you are the smartest person I know, so…"

"Do you want me to help you study?" I asked, surprised, and stopped.

Why did he want _my_ help? Was I ready to be _that_ nice to him?

"Sure. For a price of course." He hurried to say.

"I can do it for free, it's not that… But I won't do any essays for you – only help you study."

"Thanks. Hey, weren't you in a hurry?"

"Oh." I began walking again and he kept walking beside me. "But why don't you ask Leo? He's taking the same classes as I am."

"He's pseudo intelligent."

I reacted with wide eyes, almost stopped dead in my tracks again. "Pseudo intelligent?"

"That means that he only appears to be smart."

"I know what it means." I quickly replied. "I'm just surprised that _you_ know what it means."

"Nice…" he muttered and corrected the red cap on his head. "What I mean is that he has just begun studying hard. You, on the other hand, were born smart, so it wouldn't take much of your time to teach me five days a week."

"Wait a minute… Five days? Isn't one day enough?"

"Are you afraid of being in the same room as me?"

"You can't deny that we have had an unhealthy past." I stopped outside the class room with my hand on the door knob. "We're here."

"I know. But okay; three days a week? All free, first tonight?"

"One evening…" I was in no mood of spending too much time with Luke when I needed all of it with Dainton who was going to move across the country. He had been admitted to Harvard – _Harvard_!

"Two? Please; they're saying that I'll fail the whole year."

So that was why he needed my help, and fast; because he knew that he was failing, and since he _almost_ knew me he could ask. I felt a little used but replied with: "Be at my house seven p.m. and let's see what I can do for you."

"Thanks, Utonium, you're the best!" Luke gave me the widest smile I had ever seen on his face (the freckles were really shining around his deep dimples and on his pointy nose) and then started walking back through the hall and disappeared.

 **Bubbles**  
My whole world had turned upside-down. Everything had changed, it was different, weird, and strange… it was all a mess. What am I going to do now? What am I going to say, how should I react, how should I behave?

Everything… everything… I have no words. I just can't… I'm so confused.

After a few days of crying – living in something similar to hopeless darkness without speaking to anybody – not even to Leo who was so worried about me that he threatened to take me to a psychologist – I went down the stairs where Professor sat in the couch with Irene in the living room. They were laughing. The sound didn't really fit in my life right now. Not at all. It was unreal that they could just sit there – and laugh.

It was Friday night and they were watching a movie. Irene was going to sleep over. She is thirty three years old; that's why I need to talk to her; she knows what to do.

I didn't hear what they were talking about when I stopped behind them; or I didn't listen at least, and didn't care. I just stood there, watching the backs of their heads for several minutes; trying to remember how to make a sound to make them know of my presence.

Irene leaned to Professor – I think she was going to kiss him on his cheek – when she saw me. "Becca? How long have you been standing there?" she asked with wide eyes, her cheeks turning red.

"Becca?" Professor asked again when I didn't answer. I just kept looking at them.

"What's going on, sweetie?" Irene stood up and was just going to put her hand on my shoulder when I broke down in tears. I began crying. Again. As if I hadn't been crying for so long already. I guess my eyes were bloodshot.

"I… want… to talk… Irene…" I sobbed, tears streaming down my face.

"I'll get this, John. It's okay." Said Irene to Professor who went down to his lab without hesitating. "Come here, sit down." She took me to the couch and we sat down. "What's up?"

"I… don't know… what to… do…" I sobbed even worse now. Irene was listening attentively. "I… you… Zac…"

"What is it with Zac?"

"He was born…"

"Are you having a problem with Zac? What did he do, Becca?" she sounded angry, as if she was planning on how to punish her oldest son.

"No…" I took a deep, shaky breath. "He was born when you were only sixteen years old."

A light of comprehending was lit; she finally understood what I was trying to say. "My God… Sweetheart…" she hugged me tight and I leaned against her chest.

It felt good being so close to Irene; almost like having a mother… She then let go of me and tried to look into my eyes, but I avoided them and looked down in my lap. For some reason I felt ashamed.

Irene's whisper was almost imperceptible: "So the test was yours… Are you pregnant?"

I nodded.

"But not with Zac, right?" she asked with wrinkled forehead; as if she didn't believe her own question.

"No…" I said with muffled voice and a sad laugh. Nothing was funny but her conclusion of who the father was was actually kind of unbacked.

"Leo?" I nodded. "Does he know?" I shook my head. "Are you… going to keep it?"

I started crying again. I didn't want to kill anything… living… anything that is mine. But I don't want a child either, because that will only ruin my life. Eighteen years – I wasn't even eighteen years old and that is how long you must take care of a child. I don't have the time, the will, or the experience. I'm only seventeen years old! How the hell did this happen?! We've been using protection every time: how is this even possible?

As if she had read my mind Irene asked: "Haven't you used protection?"

"Condoms." I whispered and felt my face burning.

"Well, they're like only eighty-nine percent effective, or something. Believe me; I know. So I can really understand that you're upset. But let me just tell you something I wish someone had told me." I looked at her and she scooted a little so that we could see each other better. "I was terrified; like you; when I found out that I was expecting Zac. I had used protections as well; but apparently that wasn't enough. This isn't your fault, Becca, and it's not Leo's fault. So don't blame any of you.

When I was three months pregnant I felt Zac kicking – I felt life in there; his strength. Before that I _loathed_ him ever since I found out that I was expecting – I am not proud of that… But after that first kick; I didn't care about anything else in this world. I loved him, and he was my everything. He still is, and I regret ever thinking of having him… you know."

She shivered.

"I got a lot of help from my family – both economically and mentally – and I made it. There was no mistake that Zac was born; he is no mistake. That's the wonder of being a mother – you get the strongest bond to you child.

If I could decide myself then I wouldn't have chosen to give birth to Zac right then and there; when I was that young. Maybe a few years later, maybe ten. But then it wouldn't have been a Zac, am I right? Then it would've been… maybe a Max, or a Jim. But he wouldn't have been _my_ Zac; the Zac he is today and the Zac he is going to be.

You will almost never be prepared for your first child and almost never be ready for it – until it's already on its way."

Something heavy lifted from my shoulders after Irene's speech. She was right. If I go through an abortion now then I will erase a future that is already written. Loads and loads of memories will be wiped out; memories in the future. My child won't exist anymore.

My child.

I smiled a little. Irene caught that and smiled back, but then she looked serious again. "What do you want to do? It's all up to you. Remember; I will help you through this no matter what you chose. Even if it doesn't work between John and me I will still be here for you. I have made a promise and I never break a promise. We don't even have to mention this conversation to your father; even if you chose the second alternative."

"I need to think about it." I mumbled, a little (if just the smallest amount) happier.

"You do that. And rest. Come down again if you want to talk some more or shout – I'll come running. I'll be here all weekend."

"Thanks, Irene." She hugged me tight and then I went up the stairs to my bedroom.

Once I sat on my bed again I patted my belly and sighed.

 **Professor**  
I never asked Irene what she and Bubbles had talked about, even though I was so curious my head could explode; I respected Bubble's wish of wanting me out of it. She wanted help from Irene, not from me.

The lack of a mother figure began showing itself more and more.

 **Buttercup**  
One competition was finished and I was on my room again, grounded… again. The trophy stood in the trophy cabinet at school for everyone to watch; shiny and proud. I thought about the trophy as I laid there on my bed with my earphones inserted. _Joshie and the Beans_ was the local rock band that I was listening to this evening; they performed in bars around Townsville and Citiesville and uploaded their music for free on the Internet. But it was a long time ago now that I heard from them, so I guess that they have just ended it. They weren't really my style, but I liked them anyway.

Speaking of ending stuff; I haven't talked to Becca for a few days, now that I think of it. She is acting really strange locking herself up on her room; sometimes alone, sometimes with Leo. I guess that they're in this weird phase in their relationship where they're constantly having sex and can't keep their fingers off of each other. I remember when me and… I didn't even want to go there.

Why did he still take so much of my time? That dumb, idiotic fucking human being. How _dare_ he intrude on _my_ thoughts? Oh, well, now that I started thinking about him…

I remembered our first kiss. The real one, not the one in the ball storage. New Year's eve – that was a kiss and a half; it meant something. I remembered the first time we slept together (yes, now I mean the ball storage) – so passionate; nothing else existed then and there.

I remembered the day I told everyone that we were dating. I had been brave for once and didn't care about myself; I took the microphone from the referee's hand and just said it out loud – that I loved him! That is so not like me! And I did that!

… and he kissed me… in front of everybody I know… and he really made me feel loved.

How could he? I knew from start that he wasn't a person you could trust; my intuition told me that over and over. And somehow he managed to manipulate me into trusting him anyway. I am so fucking stupid! Of course it's not him that I should be mad at, or Olivia, I should be mad at myself! Only myself and no one else!

This weird feeling began bubbling inside of me. I forgave him. A chock ran through my body at the same time as a pebble hit my window. I slowly rose up, went to the window and looked down. Liam.

How… how can he stand down there… just as all of this dawn on me?

When I looked at him I got angry again. Sure, part of the blame was mine because I was stupid enough to let him hurt me; but the biggest part was his as he was the devil himself.

I opened the window but didn't say anything.

"Hi…" he said quietly, he knew that I heard him. "Can I come in?"

"No."

"Do you want to come down and talk with me?"

"No…" I sighed. "Whatever it is that you want to tell me; I'm positive that I don't want to hear it."

He looked down on his feet and pulled his hair away from his face. He had let it grow, so now it looked like the messiest Mohawk I had ever seen. He had a regular black hoodie under his camouflage jacket and a pair of black jogging pants. It wasn't like him being this… trashy?

When he looked up on me again he looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes. "Please?" he sounded different, pleading; just what he had sounded like after the Christmas ball several months ago.

I climbed through the window and flew down on the ground, landed in front of him with a deep sigh. "Speak."

"I know that I have apologized over and over and that it won't help me anymore, and I know that I can't make you to take me back, but I just want to explain, I want to clear my name. What happened in my parents' room that night is something that I can't explain. But mark my words; I wasn't that drunk that I didn't know what I was doing. Everything just turned… black. So sudden. It was like she cast a spell on me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" I rolled my eyes; I'd heard all of that before.

"The same with Emo-kid. It was like I was another person. That wasn't me, Brooke. I swear."

"Was it like an itch you had to scratch? Or was it like a sneeze?" I said sarcastically.

He shook his head. "It wasn't like that at all. This was different, but I can't explain it." He took a deep breath and continued: "It's a sad thing that we both had to suffer this much because of all of this. Especially you, of course, since you're the most beautiful and the most kind-hearted person with the best intentions that I know." So much brown on his nose… "All I wish is that I hadn't been so stupid and let myself have that party. I wish that I could've just asked you to take me somewhere where we could be all to ourselves…

I want you to be happy. And if I, somehow, ever manage to hurt your feelings again; then I'm not doing it intentionally.

And I am sorry that you got expelled from school because of me. I have talked to the school board and they said that they could take a few weeks away from your punishment. You can come back next week, already."

"What?! How did you do that?" I blurted out, entirely taken by surprise.

"Let's leave it at that I'm a skilled speaker."

"Okay… thanks." I mumbled and made it sound like a question.

Why did he do this? It didn't even feel like I was talking to Liam Berger anymore, but with someone else. He was using bigger words than usual and didn't sound like himself at all. He didn't sound… dumb.

I decided to call this new person Silver tongue, in my head.

"My pleasure. So don't jump to any conclusions when you notice that I'm on my way trying to hurt your feelings again. I'm not thinking of what I'm doing. So please, just ignore me. That's all."

"But…" I shook my head with wrinkled forehead. "Why don't you just try and… don't do stupid shit? Then we won't have to fight all the time."

"That's something I don't have the answer to. Oh, and I'll try not to tease your boyfriend anymore." What happened to _Emo-kid_? "Maybe you could tell him that I'm sorry. I really don't think that he would want me to say it to him in person…"

He began walking away from me, and when he reached the fence he easily jumped over it and then jogged down the street; without being disrupted by his leg that he had had a limp on before.

What the fuck is going on?

 **Boomer**  
I was sitting on the edge of my bed with shaking legs, shaking hands and a cramping stomach. Becca said that she had something important that she wanted to talk with me about. Something she couldn't tell me over the phone. She said that she was just going to change and then she would fly over here.

So when is she here? In five seconds? Ten seconds?

She has been acting really strange all week. Is _that_ what she wants to talk about? So, what is it? Does she want to break up with me?

…

She doesn't love me anymore. That has to be it. That's why she has been acting so strange. I should've known… but I've refused to believe it.

/She didn't knock on the door when she arrived but flew straight to my bedroom window instead. She didn't want my family to know that she was here – of course; then she could just sneak out right after she had dumped me without making a scene in the rest of the house.

I opened the window so that she could climb through. "Hi." I said quietly. I couldn't say anything more without feeling the urge to throw up.

She didn't ask why I looked so sad, so I guess that she understood that I had already figured it out.

"I… uhm…" she looked confused, didn't know how to say it. "Maybe you should sit down."

"Just say it so we can get over with it." I mumbled and stayed by the window, ready to close it after she'd left.

"What?" she looked at me with wide eyes. "Get over with what?"

"You've been acting like a zombie the entire week. You haven't wanted to kiss me, or hug me, or even hold my hand." I felt that weird sensation in the throat; that feeling when you're on the verge of crying. Oh, please no… "You've been cold to me, and you've hardly spoken to me or wanting to be with me. I've been so worried over you and now I know why you're doing this to me."

"What are you talking about?" she asked; and the look on her face said that I had hurt her feelings. Either I was wrong or she was having cold feet.

"This is just what Linda did… just before…"

"No!" she quickly said. "Stop! You can't think that way!"

"What way?"

Becca took my hands in hers. "That I would break up with you; because I won't ever do that. Never. Because I… because I love you. More than you could ever understand." She began crying.

I was confused. "Then what is it?" I felt that scathing sensation in my throat again, but in the same time a little knot loosened in my stomach; she wasn't going to dump me. But a new one was starting to tie itself; then what was it?

"This thing that I will tell you now; a thing I haven't told you earlier because I wasn't sure if _you_ were going to break up with _me_ … That's why I have been ' _cold'_ …"

"Just say it." I felt scared again.

"But never, ever, think that I'll break up with you…"

I pulled her towards the bed and sat her down with me beside her and began stroking her back.

She took a deep breath and took my other hand… and put it on her belly. "There… there's something in there…"

…

I couldn't utter a word. Speechless.

I saw my whole future pass before my eyes. A screaming child that kept me awake several nights in a row; I was forced to stay home from school and change diapers; all my money I was ever going to make was going to this child that I hadn't planned for… I was eighteen years old… My life hadn't even started yet.

I knew I should have said something! The first time we had sex; on Valentine's Day; I saw that the condom had broken so why didn't I say anything? I am stupid – that's why! She could've just taken one of those… emergency contra… contraception-whatever-pills and not get pregnant! But what did I do? I ran. Faster than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking competition.

"You're knocked up?" I asked her at last – couldn't believe it myself.

Becca nodded her head and tears were streaming down her cheeks and landed in her lap. She was thinking what I was thinking; we were too young.

"Are you going to keep it?"

"That's why I needed to talk to you. I don't know. I want you to help me decide."

"No pressure, right?" I tried to joke but received one of her most sinister looks only Becca could give you.

We were both in this, together, so of course I needed to try and help her out with this big decision. Keep it, or kill it?

Another tape started playing in my head; pictures of me training my three year old son to skate; me throwing a baseball to him; me taking him to football practice; his first day in school…

"I don't know." I mumbled. "It's kind of sudden. A kid? Can we take care of it?"

"Irene promised me that she was going to help us as much as she could. Both Professor and your family has enough money, so that will not be a problem."

"Does Professor know?"

"No, only Irene… and you."

"Okay…"

"We're so young."

"We are young." I agreed. "We haven't even finished high school yet."

She began crying again. "I can't kill it."

"No…"

"I can't kill my baby."

I hugged her tightly. "I know… Becca?"

"Yeah…" she sniffled.

"We're going to have a baby." She didn't answer. "We're going to have a baby, Becca. We're going to become parents."

I felt a smile tearing up my face, but tried to hold it back as Becca was crying, and maybe she would think that my joy was inappropriate.

"Yes… we are." She laughed a little.

"I'm going to be a daddy!" I lifted her up from the bed and spun her around in my arms.

"So we'll do this?" she asked when I let her down on the floor again.

"Let's do this! I don't want him to die either; not now that his life has just begun."

"Or hers." Becca whispered and stroke her belly.

"Or hers…" I whispered back and sat down on my knees in front of her so that my face was in the same height as her belly. "Daddy will always love you whether you're a boy or a girl."

/Becca slept over that night. We needed this now – the closeness. She didn't care if she was going to get into trouble with Professor tomorrow morning for staying the night at my house; she wanted to be with me. After she had fallen into a deep sleep I just laid there on my back with her head on my arm and my fingers running through her hair.

It hit me so hard my stomach tingled in a very unpleasant way and a shiver ran up my spine.

I was going to become a father. What a weird feeling. Strange, different…. But was it positive? Negative? I felt nauseas out of anticipation.

The plan was that we were going to tell Professor in the morning and after that… my parents. What would they think? Maybe they would be mad at first and tell us that we had been acting irresponsible and stuff; but later on they would probably help us as much as they possibly could. We're not really of age yet (well, at least not Becca); did they have the authority to decide what we should do? Could they decide that we abort the child – kill our child?

Our child… father.

/When Becca left the next morning to prepare Professor for our talk; and let me to prepare myself a little bit more; I pulled my bag out of my closet. I didn't think about what I did, didn't think about what I packed and didn't think about where I went.

 **Oh, wow, what a cliffhanger, huh? I just want to tell you all that the next chapter will be the final one for book 1! :O  
Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! I hope you liked this chapter and stay tuned for the final in two weeks!**


	18. Chapter 17 - Truth

**Truth**

 **Blossom**  
Luke had already been at our house once now and he was actually much more sociable than what he had appeared before. Before these study sessions he'd only talked to me to say something rude; but now he seemed kind of normal. Well, a little at least. He was calm but in the same time his mouth went like it had no stop – he never shut up. This person sitting next to me didn't feel like the same Luke Berger – former Brick Jojo/Him – I once knew… maybe that's because I _didn't_?

Oh, you should've seen Brooke's face when I told her that Luke was waiting outside to come into the house yesterday – it was priceless. When he stood in the hallway and she by the stairs; staring at each other; they both sort of… hissed at each other, and then she flew up the stairs.

Luke was really bad at math and needed all the help I could give him. Yesterday, Friday night, he sat on my chair by my desk while I sat next to him on a kitchen chair. He had this extremely concentrated look on his face and scratched his head underneath the cap, gnawed on his pen and sighed. "It's hopeless. I don't get it."

"Here…" I said, a tad annoyed. I had tried to help him understand this equation for almost ten minutes. "To get the quotient out of a figure you need to find the number that you can multiply with itself. And then you get the result, the quotient."

"Explain better!" he growled through shut teeth.

I had only known him this way for a couple of hours but I had already discovered that he had a really bad temper, and I know that he didn't mean anything by it even though he sounded mad for real. He was only frustrated because of himself.

"Let's take the quotient out of nine again."

"Three times three…" he mumbled and took his cap off so that his long, ginger hair sprawled everywhere. He pulled his finger through it to comb through the messiest parts. "But explain to me _how_."

I explained the correct calculation for him again, just as I had done a few times already, but tried to dumb it down a bit more.

"Can I take a break?"

"You took a break ten minutes ago." I complained. "Come on now. Try."

"Is everything okay between you and Dainton?"

"Focus." I rolled my eyes – he was just trying to distract me. "And that is kind of a private question."

"Can't friends ask stuff like that?"

"We're not friends… yet, at least."

"So how does it feel that he will go to college when summer's over?"

"Luke…" I sighed. "It's starting to get late."

"Oh, come on! I can learn math and get to know you in the same time."

Why was he so eager to know private things about me? I felt so skeptic. He got to have something fishy going on when he suddenly wants me to help him with his school work. Because he wants to get to me somehow…

Or… maybe he just wants to change. Maybe Luke Berger has joined the good side and now wants to show it to me?

"Talk about feelings… with you?"

"Oh… are feelings involved?" he gave me a crooked smile; not a jeer, but empathetic.

"Of course. My boyfriend is going to move across the country. Well, sure, I can easily see him any day, but mostly weekends because we both will have to study, and maybe not even then because in college you study even more so maybe he won't have time on the weekends either." I said in one breath.

"You could study together?" Luke suggested. "Just take the bag with you after school and fly over to him."

"That's true. But then all we ever do together is study, you know? We won't have time for each other anymore… and the lunch breaks…"

Luke sat quiet for a few seconds, as if he was trying to figure something out. "It won't be the same as our school, right?" I bet he had seen us underneath our tree during the lunch breaks.

I shook my head. But then I smiled, wanted to change the sad subject. "And you? I don't know anything about you, Luke. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Nah. Girls don't really talk to me." He laughed shyly.

"Is it because you're always so mean to them?"

He looked down on me with raised eyebrows. "Stop judging me after your own experience with me." He chuckled and teasingly punched me on my shoulder.

I chuckled too – being open with Luke wasn't as hard as I had expected at first – but then I got serious again. "Then why do you think that is?"

"I don't know…" he grabbed the red cap from the table and put it on his head again. I guess that he uses that cap as some kind of shelter; some kind of mask. "Maybe I'm not that interesting to them. I skip classes and keep away from people during recess. I guess I'm not one of those typical sporty high school guys you see in movies." He looked as if he was just thinking out loud, as if he was all alone in the room. "Then the girls would've been all over me, right? But I guess that I'm not that tall and… good looking as the other guys in the football team."

I watched his pensive eyes and followed them to the table where he was fiddling on the black leather wristband he had on his right wrist. He looked sincere. I had this weird feeling you get when something really amazing happens (like if you saw a deer on the track during a walk in the woods, or if you saw a unicorn) – did Luke Berger really say these things to me? Was he really that insecure, did he really see himself that way? Did Luke Berger really _feel_?

And once again the thought of him messing with me showered over me, and that he only wanted me to see this _sensitive side_ of him because he wanted to trick me into trusting him. I actually didn't know how to react.

And what if he really _is_ serious? I can't just throw him away like yesterday's news this time – what if he really is hurting? If he really doesn't have anyone to talk to then how bad of a person aren't I then? I felt so confused.

I felt the need to try and cheer him up so I thought of a truth to tell him: "There is something I can tell you, but it's not much since I don't know you that well yet." I took a deep breath, my voice crowded in my throat but somehow I managed to say it: "You are not ugly." I had to swallow once before I could continue. "And short? You're at least *eight inches taller than me."

"Thanks." He smiled a real, wide smile. "But point out _one_ good thing in my face then I will never complain again."

I knew that I had to cheer him up some more so I just kept telling him the truth: "You get dimples when you smile; that's something every girl likes. And you have freckles; that's really cute on a guy. Your brothers don't have any of those."

Luke smiled even wider, and something mischievous shined through his red eyes. "Gee, thanks, Utonium. I didn't know that you were in love with me."

"I am _not_!" I felt my cheeks burning as my face turned red.

"I'm just kidding, I'm sorry!" he laughed and looked down on the desk again. "So dimples… that's something I can live with, but both Leo and Liam are taller than me. Liam is over *six feet, seven something inches tall and I think Leo is *six feet, three. Why am I shorter than them?"

"Triplets don't have to look just the same. Becca is the tallest of the three of us and Brooke is the shortest."

"But it isn't as _noticeable_ as with me and my brothers. And how come that two out of three became tall and handsome whilst the third got smacked with the ugly-stick?"

"You promised not to complain about your appearance again." I felt awkward by the conversation but tried to understand him anyway. "So you really think that people have a look at all three of you and pick Leo and Liam over you?"

"Liam first, of course; he is sociable, play basketball, can talk to anyone. Leo is kind of popular around the girls as well; he skates and you can always see him wherever you are and he is smart. Me?"

"Yeah, where do you go all the time? I almost never see you around school."

"I'm not visible all the time, remember?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"I don't like being around people that much… I can't put my finger on why, but… people are just not my thing." He chuckled a little to himself, as if he remembered something ironic. "The only thing that can get me to talk to people is pot. That's why I'm not always around school. I sit in a car somewhere, smoking with Gordon and Roy from my team. You know Gordon, right? I have actually been smoking just before coming over here, or else I wouldn't have had the courage to speak with you, let alone study math…"

He kept talking but I didn't listen anymore. How dare he talk about taking drugs – glorifying them – in front of me? _Me_ – _really_?! Well, that explains his weird behavior.

"Oops…" he mumbled once he looked at my face; I was just staring forward. "Uhm… It's late, maybe I should leave."

"Sit." I pulled his arm so that he sat down on the chair again. "Is there _anything_ I can do?"

"What?"

"You're obviously… ' _hooked'_. And I rather help you than bust you. Just tell me if you _want_ to try and stop smoking… _marijuana_ …" I lowered my voice into a whisper, Luke cringed a little from my pronunciation but I tried not to care about it. "…or else we can't be friends anymore."

He groaned and put his forehead on his arms lying on the table; his hair fell like a curtain over his arms. "I don't know." I heard him whisper.

"Then I decide for you – and I decide that we will try and unhook you."

/Luke and I had a long and serious talk. We talked about his life and his feelings – he showed me a person that I would never guess lived inside of him. He seemed so… normal. At eleven p.m. we realized that it was late and he left. So we decided that we were going to see each other again today and just talk some more. I noticed that he really needed somebody to talk to.

I bet he'll be over soon, its eight a.m. now and we were going to be here all morning, but that will be enough – because the afternoon and the rest of the day will be Dainton's time with me.

I heard the door open when I left the shower; oh, right – Becca had been spending the night at Leo's. Professor had been tremendously mad, but after Irene had talked to him he calmed down and let her stay. And this morning she and Leo were coming over to talk to him.

God; I wonder what it is about?

Just as the door closed Professor ran to meet up with her, but she was the one talking first, with a shaky voice revealing that tears were almost on their way: "Leo will be over soon. We have something important to talk to you about but please, don't be mad at me for sleeping over at the Berger's house."

 **Professor**  
I wasn't sure of what Bubbles wanted to talk with me about, but it must have been about the secret conversation she had had with Irene last night. It still bothered me a little that Bubbles went to Irene instead of coming to me first, but… I guess that it was something that I shouldn't put too much energy on.

/Last night I called Bubbles eleven p.m. to see where she was; she had a curfew that started eleven on weekends; and she said that she needed to stay at the Berger's and that Irene would explain the rest of it.

"She and Leo have something really important to talk about. It's one of those talks that could take all night. She is not trying to anger you, John; and she is being really mature about all of this so just give her this little favor. She and Leo need to sort this out by themselves." Irene told me and I decided to trust them both./

Everything has a meaning, right? And that stupid clink in the trashcan a few days back made my thoughts form into nightmares – this wasn't happening. And now my daughter – my seventeen year old daughter – stood in front of me with tears in her eyes, saying that her eighteen year old boyfriend will be here soon.

"Okay." I shortly replied. She looked terrified; as If she was expecting me to attack her with a machete. "I look forward to this talk." I heard myself mumble even though it wasn't at all true.

We both sat quiet in the living room with the TV on that none of us really watched. Bubbles obsessively looked at the clock on her cell phone; and after half an hour she took the phone to her ear and waited.

"Leo doesn't answer." She whispered.

A knock on the door and she was there in a second, but it wasn't Leo.

"Hey, uhm… Is Beatrice here?"

Luke Berger had been over at our house the night before to get help with his school work – I praised Blossom for her good work; she is a really good tutor, of what I've heard.

"You can come in, Luke!" said Blossom who had opened her bedroom door; she looked like she wanted to hurry him up and he, without looking at anyone, began walking across the floor.

"Well, well, well…" We all looked to the stairs where Buttercup stood in the middle of them with her arms crossed. "If it isn't little leprechaun Berger."

Have my girls gone crazy or something? What is all this and what is it that Bubbles and Leo wanted to talk to me about? I don't have time for Buttercup's rage too!

"Brooke, you go to your room and stay there. Bubbles, you try to call Leo again and Betty, take care of your guest." I sighed; fell down in my chair again with my hands covering my face.

I heard Luke walking across the living room now, quietly steering his steps towards Blossom's bedroom, but Bubbles stopped him. "Was Leo still at home when you left?"

"No. He said that he was going to go here and the car was gone when I left the house fifteen minutes ago. I thought that he was here, already."

Bubbles turned to me and looked scared again. "Something must have happened to him." She said and flew out the door, Blossom and Buttercup right behind her.

What is going on?

/They didn't come home until one in the morning; they had been out all day and night searching for Leo, but they hadn't found him anywhere. I don't understand… and I feel so sorry for Bubbles. I was worried too, of course; he had become family now. Both police and other forces had joined the search for him… he can't have just gone up in smoke, right?

 **Buttercup**  
I slept for three hours before Becca woke me up again; it was time to search for Leo. Of course I didn't contradict – even though I was so tired I could sleep through a storm right now – because if something had happened to my sister's boyfriend then it was my duty to save him.

Memories from around Christmas started playing like a movie in my head; memories of the time we were searching for Professor. We had hardly eaten or slept, or rested at all. We had been flying around the planet searching for him…

We asked people if they had seen Leo, we checked with his family in Texas and South and North Carolina; we even asked the villains again but nothing lead us even a tiny little step closer to him. The last villain we checked was Him; the devil who had revived the guys after we defeated them the first time; and he was now a prisoner in the coldest prison in the whole world – a prison in the deepest forest in Russia. The freezing temperature made his powers useless, he couldn't have been able to release himself if he so was tied to a pole in the ground; so he wasn't the guilty one this time.

We also asked Mojo; the chimpanzee who had created the Berger-boys from the beginning, but he was so old and confused nowadays he hardly didn't understand what we were asking for. His aging made me think of what is really important in your life – your family. He couldn't even remember who Brick, Butch and Boomer were and I dread the day grandma and even Professor… I don't even want to finish that sentence.

Mojo couldn't recognize his own sons. If you could call them that.

/The night after that, Sunday night, we were so hungry that we needed to go home and take something easy to eat, and just as I sat down at the table I got a text message on my cellphone. It was from Liam and it said: " _I'm underneath your window._ "

I didn't tell the others and flew to the side of the house where my bedroom window was. "What is it?" I asked him. I knew that Betty and Becca heard us, but I didn't care; I just wanted to get rid of Liam.

He had his usual jacket and a pair of black jeans. The muscles in his face were stiff and his forehead was wrinkled, the hair on his head just lying there, lifeless. "You're looking for Leo." He stated.

"Yeah? Of course. If you hadn't noticed it; he's been lost for two days now."

"That attitude is unnecessary." He seemed empty this time, not the old Liam and not the upper class Liam – just empty.

"Okay. I'm hungry; what is it you want to tell me?"

He looked down on his feet and kept looking at them when he started talking. "Stop looking for him."

"Why?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Wasn't he even a little worried for his brother?

"You won't find him."

"We have to and we will; whether you care or not."

"Don't you get it?" Liam looked at me with his dark green eyes. His face wasn't as indifferent as his voice; he actually looked pissed. "He doesn't want to be found. Just do him a favor and stop searching for him."

"Did he run away?" I hissed. "Did he leave Becca without having the courtesy to tell her why? To explain himself?"

"It doesn't matter. He called me and told me to tell you this and I don't know anything else. I don't care what he does, where he is and what he did; I'm just the messenger here."

"Call him up again." I demanded.

"No."

"Call him and we'll trace his call."

"What is that you don't understand? He doesn't want to be found so stop looking for him."

"So you think that I will just leave this alone now that I know the reason for his disappearance? Now I'm gonna kick his ass, and you'll be next!" I pointed at him with an accusatory finger and he just rolled his eyes.

"You're going to kick our asses?" the scorn was sneaking up on him – old Liam.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I articulated, so mad now that I was almost shaking.

"Oh, well that was all I know. Stop searching for him because he want to be left alone." And then he just walked away with his hands in his pockets… and I didn't even try to stop him.

 **Bubbles**  
It was in the beginning of May; the fourth. Leo had been gone for two weeks and he didn't want to be found. He'd left me.

The days slowly crept by, but I didn't even notice the change of day anymore; I had no perception of time. I was just lying in my bed, I didn't eat, and I couldn't focus in school. I didn't sleep; or I slept all the time and dreamt about him. Several nights in a row I dreamt that he snuck into my bedroom and woke me up; told me that he was back. When I woke up for real I felt jubilant – for five seconds, because then I realized that it had only been a dream. My subconscious wanted to crush me.

This morning I walked – I walked all the way, and very slow and I wasn't there until thirty minutes later – to the women's clinic in town. I looked through brochures about abortion; pretended that I was doing a research for school, but… How am I supposed to take care of a baby all alone? Without the father...

But I left. I couldn't go through with it. I can't lose my love _and_ my child; that'd been too much for me to handle. Now this child is my life line – the only thing worth living for, and if Leo ever comes back I will hunt him down with teeth and claws; he is not welcome into my or the baby's lives again.

 **Buttercup**  
Robin was going to host a party this weekend regardless if we win the next basketball game or not and I was still trying to settle on whether I wanted to go or not – Liam was going, of course.

Let's jump to the basketball game in California.

Liam was there, since he plays in the basketball team, and I was there with my squad to support them and to pep the audience. During one extremely quick second Liam gave me one of those glances he did in the beginning of our relationship; with that crooked smile with heavy eyelids, and during the dance he didn't let go of my sight for one bit. I looked to the bleachers where Zac sat, also watching me (he wanted to go with me since he missed the last time, even though our dancing wasn't the main thing tonight).

Zac and I were now officially dating.

It was only seven weeks ago since I broke up with Liam, but sometimes it feels like it was way longer, and sometimes it feels like yesterday. I was still pissed; I was depressed as well… why, oh, why do I love two guys at once?

Wait a minute… do I love Zac? I really need to sort things out before visiting that chapter of my relationship with him…

However; when the game was over I ran into Liam in the hallway between the locker rooms and we both looked away when we passed each other.

"You were good. I'm impressed."

I had to turn around and look at him to realize it was Liam who had spoken. He had that weird Silver tongue voice again.

"Thanks. You too."

"So when's the competition in Morristown?" Robin or Tilly must have told him about it.

"Tomorrow. Are you curious about our secret dance?"

"Isn't it the same as the one you did today?"

"No, no, of course not." I said. "It'll be very different."

"I hope I will see it on a basketball game in the future." He chuckled awkwardly – he was really trying to be nice, and something in his eyes said that he wanted to relax more but just didn't know how to.

"I bet you'll do. And congratulations for the win, by the way."

"Thanks. Party at Robin's this weekend."

"I hope you'll have fun." I nodded.

"Swing by if you're not still having that curfew. I mean; the party is for you, as well, not only for the basketball team."

"I'll think about it."

Liam gave me a crooked smile, his face finally relaxed. "I saw Zac in the audience; does he like basketball?"

It felt like a lightning had struck my stomach; we talked about Zac in a normal conversation, without Liam getting mad. "No, sorry, he wanted to see us dance. But he shouted with the rest of the people when you threw the ball through the hoop; so I guess that maybe he's a little interested?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"What is taking you so long?" Tilly poked her head out of the girls' locker room when she saw that I was talking to Liam. "Oh, just finish what you're doing and you can come whenever."

"No, she was just going!" said Liam.

"No, no, it wasn't anything like that!" I said, mixing my words with his.

"Okay." Tilly closed the door.

"Well, see you around." I said and started walking to the locker room.

"Yeah, see you, Brooke."

Something hit me right after I had closed the door after me; what did that smile mean when Liam brought Zac up in the conversation? Was I hoping for too much when I was thinking that we finally could talk normally about Zac without fighting?

Oh, God.

I quickly changed my clothes without showering and then started to look for him, but Zac was sitting on the bleachers; just where I had left him; unharmed.

And oh, my God; Becca is pregnant! That's why Leo ran away like the coward he is – and now my duty is to kill him. Straight up smack the life out of him.

Well, today is Professor's birthday and tomorrow will the next cheerleading competition be distracting me… but only for a few hours.

 **Blossom**  
We celebrated Professor's fiftieth birthday in the backyard fourth of May. He made barbequed beef and vegetables and Brooke and I made the cake. Mayor, Miss Bellum, Charles and Daniella Berger was of course invited, and Dainton, Irene, Zac and Gordon. The only one who didn't make it was grandma but she was going to visit us soon enough.

We ate the food, we sang, and Professor blew out the candles.

Why it sounds so sad and grey? Becca didn't eat her veggies and just sat there without caring about anything anyone said; usually she kind of is the center of attention, but today she looked like she was never going to be happy again. She left the table only ten minutes into dinner. Professor said that it didn't trouble him; he understands her; but we still noticed how sad he was over that his own daughter couldn't just… be happy.

Other than that the small party was great; the guests were happy and didn't even notice the dark cloud hovering above her.

 **Buttercup**  
The morning of the competition the eighth of May; I went through the same routine as the last time. I had a big breakfast, made lunch for the bus ride and then flew to the school where the bus was waiting for me. Zac lived only a hundred meters from school so he already stood there to wave me good bye.

"Good morning." He said and kissed me. "Nervous?"

"Not one bit; at least since you're here."

This thing with Zac… The purpose was that I was just going to make Liam jealous and to get over him faster, but… I actually think that I'm in love with Zac now. Or I know that I am. I've been thinking about this a lot: if I broke up with Zac now and saw him with another girl; that would make me furiously jealous, so that has to mean that I kind of love him? It was so strange that two people this different could get along so well.

"Isn't it the love-birds?" Tilly asked, walking towards us with Robin behind her. "Hi, Zac." They both said in one voice.

"Hey." He said shyly.

"Shall we?" I asked the three of them and nodded towards the bus going to Morristown.

/We had the highest points this competition around and we won! We got into the finals! After celebrating with the squad and coach Terrence we took the bus home.

/Since it was Saturday I could go to Robin's party that evening. Professor said that it was okay and that I would do the right thing… whatever that means. I invited Betty; I didn't want to go there by myself and Robin and Tilly were only going to be with Liam all night… And I really wanted to go, as well; to show him that I'm fine with our brake up now and that we can be around each other without it getting awkward between us – it was three months ago, for crying out loud. It's old news now.

While Betty and I were going to a party Becca stayed home to plan the future with Irene. Becca was now fully encouraged to raise a baby on her own and Irene is the one to thank for making her so happy again. She's strong, Becca.

It was a rainy day, Betty and I arrived to the party about ten minutes after it had started and filled our red party cups with soda in the kitchen. None of us wanted to drink this time and that felt kind of a grown up thing of us to do! Maybe this was what Professor meant with "the right thing"?

I saw Liam in the living room with one of those poker-caps and sunglasses. He looked like a moron, considering he was inside and it was pouring outside. He, Robin, Tilly, Jake and some other guys were playing poker and they all looked up when Betty and I entered the room.

"Poker?" Robin asked us.

"Maybe later." I replied and looked at Betty who hadn't really talked to my group of friends before; except for Robin who she knew when we were children.

We walked across the living room and saw Luke coming down the stairs just as we entered the hallway. "Hey!" he said joyfully.

"Hi, Luke!" Betty shouted with the widest smile, looking like she wanted to hug him, and I just nodded stiffly. It was so awkward to see the two of them smiling at each other, as if they had been buddies for life.

I had forgotten about him and that he was always at our parties as well… Now Betty was going to be with him instead of with me.

 **Blossom**  
Luke and I sat down on the stairs and began talking about the history assignment that he was going to write this weekend. Brooke just leaned against the wall opposite to the stairs, pretended be interested in our conversation. She was looking into the living room where her friends were playing poker around the small coffee table. She looked mad for some reason. I leaned forward to see what she was looking at and I saw Olivia.

"She's flirting with Liam again." Brooke muttered.

"Well, he doesn't seem to like her attention." I said. "He looks sort of pissed, don't you think?"

Liam brushed every one of Olivia's approaches off as if she didn't exist and finally yanked her arms from his neck when she tried to cling on him, stood up and simply walked away from the couches. He passed us in the hallway to walk out of the house. Was he already leaving?

"What is your problem?" we heard Robin ask her.

"Smoke?" Liam asked Luke, but Luke shook his head and Liam walked out.

Olivia looked frustrated, as if she couldn't understand what she did wrong. She must be crazy or something… She must be really desperate trying to get a guy, _that_ much, and even trying to get with a guy who had a girlfriend; right in front of her! Becca had told me about what Olivia did after Dainton and I had left the other party a few weeks ago; how she was touching Leo and… it's sick! Dainton had told me how uneasy and uncomfortable he had felt whenever she was around, as if she manipulated him into liking her… I hadn't seen her with other guys, only with the ones my sisters and I dated at the moment or had already dated. I don't know, Olivia is one of a kind, I guess…

"If Robin doesn't throw her out soon then I will." Brooke mumbled when they locked eyes; Olivia in the living room and Brooke in the hallway. "Bitch." She muttered.

"Hm… I want to do an experiment." I said.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"I, uhm… Would you maybe do me a favor?" I asked turned to him, Brooke gave me a skeptical look.

"Sure. What?"

"Would you maybe… I promised Dainton not to do anything stupid, and I know that he trusts me, but…" I took a deep breath. "Pretend that we're dating, okay?"

"What?" Brooke exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Just trust me." I told them both.

Luke followed me into the living room which was filled with loud music and all of Brooke's friends and other people. A guy just got up from one of the chairs so I quickly dragged Luke to it and pushed him down in it; and since I wanted to play my role properly I sat down in his lap with my arms around his neck.

"A-are you sure?" he awkwardly muttered. He didn't seem to know where to put his hands so he just stiffly put them down on the armrests.

I hushed him, took his cap off of his head and started combing through his long hair with my fingers. Luke seemed to be caught off guard so his instinct told him to push me away, but after my strict look he put his right hand on my lower back and the other one on my knee instead. Now I was the one feeling awkward and slapped the hand that was resting on my knee.

"Sorry." He angrily whispered. "But I don't know what you want me to do!"

"Just..!" I took his hand and put it on my knee again. "Whatever happens afterwards; just ignore Olivia."

"I wouldn't want to give that slut any recognition, either way."

Brooke's task in this experiment was to walk around the room and keep an eye on Olivia to see if she was watching Luke and me. She walked behind the chair just as I was going to give Luke one little awkward peck on his forehead, leaned over us and whispered:

"She's seen you. And stop that, Betty, that's gross!"

I stuck my tongue out and Brooke and I left the living room and went into the kitchen again. There were people everywhere but somehow we managed to see Luke through the crowd. As I had already counted for Olivia was by his side in seconds and tried to start up a conversation with him. She tried to look into his eyes, touched him and giggled.

At first all Luke did was looking away nervously, avoiding eye contact, seemed like he was looking for me so that he could yell at me for what was happening; but just as they locked eyes his face turned pale and expressionless.

"What's happening?" Brooke asked me.

"I don't know really." I said while still watching Olivia who now had pushed Luke back into the chair and sat in his lap just as I had done a moment ago. They never looked away from each other.

"I didn't know that Luke liked Olivia?"

"He doesn't." I said, still confused. Olivia and Luke were now making out in the chair, Luke with his hands all over her. "I told him to ignore her. This is the opposite of ignoring!"

"I swear; if he doesn't take those shades off soon then I will have to kick his ass." Brooke mumbled.

I took my eyes off of Luke and Olivia for a second to see what Brooke was referring to. Liam arrived to the living room again and stopped right in front of the chair where his brother and Olivia were making out. He walked around it twice to see if it really was the people he thought it was, and when his suspicions turned out positive he laughed and sat down in the couch again.

"So what did this prove to you?" Brooke asked me.

"That Olivia only is trying to mess with us. First Dainton, then Stan, then Liam… She tried with Leo, and then Liam again… Now Luke…"

"Yeah, she's a mastermind – the most evil villain there is." Brooke said sarcastically. "Wanna go home?"

"Yeah… But I still can't understand what Luke – wait, let me just try one more thing!" I heard Brooke groan while I walked across the living room again, put my hand on Olivia's shoulder and turned her to face me. "Excuse me; can I talk to Luke for a second?"

"Can't you see that he's with me now?" she snidely said.

"Yeah…" I dragged her out of Luke's lap and pulled him out of the chair. "Luke?" I softly slapped him on his cheek a few times. "Luke?"

His empty red eyes stared into the ceiling, but after a few seconds they looked straight at me and his eyebrows went down over them. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I just… I'm sorry." I let go of him and backed away.

Luke looked around as if he didn't know where he was and put his fingers on his lips. He grimaced as if his lips were sore. He looked up on me again, confused. "What did just happen here?"

"You and Slutty McWhore dry humped each other in the chair." Liam said from the couch. Brooke's friends and everyone who had heard him giggled.

"What? No!" Luke made a face of disgust. "No! What..?" he turned to me for answers. "I swear, I was ignoring her."

"Shades…" I just mumbled.

"What are you talking about, Betty?" Brooke, who'd joined us from the hallway, asked.

"Liam is wearing shades… Leo had shades at the masquerade…"

"So you're trying to tell me that she-" Luke got cut off when he looked into Olivia's eyes.

"Don't listen to them." She hushed him and Luke smiled back.

"Hey!" I stood in front of her, making them lose eye contact again.

"What the… how is she doing that?!" Luke said angrily.

People around us started to gather to see what we were talking about, Liam was one of them.

"It's like you said, Brooke", I began, "she is a super villain."

"Oh, come on." Said Olivia. "You're not believing her, are you?" she asked the crowd.

"Shades!" I shouted in triumph. "That was exactly what Leo Berger was wearing the night you tried to flirt with him in front of his girlfriend Rebecca Berger, on the tenth of April this year. But why couldn't you get him to fall for you?"

"How should I know?" Olivia asked. "He should've fallen for me, everybody does!"

"It was because of his sun glasses, right?" I said. "And that's why you couldn't get Liam to pay any attention to you this evening, either…"

"Because of his shades?" Brooke asked, again skeptical.

"Olivia here isn't an ordinary teenage girl; she is not who she wants us to think she is."

"What the hell are you talking about, _Blossom_? What are you trying to pull off? Do you want people to hate me? I know what this is; you're just jealous that-"

"Oh, just shut up!" I interrupted her. "You are somehow related to Sedusa Medisa – the succubus!"

Everyone gasped.

I continued: "You seduce men – I'm sorry; boys – with your eyes and you're only aiming for the ones my sisters and I care for."

"She's lying! Can't you see that she's only jealous of me?"

"And why, all of a sudden, aren't you having an accent anymore?" I asked her.

People looked at each other and started whispering.  
"I swore she had an accent."  
"Isn't she from France?"  
"Yeah, what's up with that?"

"Zat is- zat is preposterous!" Olivia immediately sounded French again and turned to face the curious people around us. "You all see zat, right? First Dainton and now zis guy," she pointed at Luke, "Beatrice just can't stand zat I am the first 'and choice…" she turned to me with something sinister in her eyes, and said with an obvious American, clean accent again; as if I couldn't do anything about it: "… and she will always be second hand."

I punched her in the face and Olivia spun over the chair and down on the floor behind it. The anger took over, but I still contained myself enough to not kill the poor girl.

"That was for Dainton." I muttered.

"So… Liam didn't…" Brooke whispered through the silence.

I looked into the panorama window across the room and saw the reflection of Liam taking off his shades and looked baffled after hearing the truth of Olivia and what made him and Brooke to split up.

"He did never cheat on you on purpose, Brooke." I replied. "It was all her; the succubus; and Dainton didn't cheat on me either. Let's take her to the prison." I pulled Olivia out from the behind the chair and Brooke and I flew her to Townsville's prison.

 **Bubbles**  
Hasn't everybody heard the expression; _we're all in the same boat_? Well, I'm sitting in my own right now. A small wooden rowing boat without oars, with rotting planks and big holes which are letting salt water in, making my wounds to sting.

I guess this is how Brooke felt when Liam was cheating on her; sat in her own rowing boat, a lot like mine, with holes letting the salt water in. But now she has got Zac, and he had just started to help her with the paint when she found out about Olivia – niece of Sedusa Medisa; half succubus. I don't really know what they are but I know that these creatures – monsters – seduce men with only one gaze. That's exactly what Sedusa once did when she pretended to be Miss Bellum and tricked Professor into falling for her years ago…

Poor Brooke; now all the holes were back again.

Betty is on her big, luxurious cruise ship; everything was going her way right now. The only down side was that her second captain – Dainton – soon was going to move; taking his own cruise ship over the seas, but it wouldn't take long until they would meet again.

Irene was now helping me with my rotting boat without oars. She had already replaced a few of the planks and was on her way of mixing the paint. She is really helping me mentally… she and Professor. He is trying at least; even though he has this disappointed glow in his eyes whenever he looks at me – we can say that he is searching for the right paint brush.

These metaphors; aren't they something?

Days passed and not one second went unnoticed without me thinking of him. His smile, his warmth, his presence. His eyes. I was constantly thinking of the happiest memories of him, like a movie that played over and over in my head; the first time we talked to each other, our first kiss, our goofy dance at the Yule ball, Valentine's Day…

I saw him in my dreams, I saw him in all the objects that he had ever touched; my bed, my chair, my floor… everything.

It was close to the middle of May and still we didn't know where he was. And here I am; in my rotting rowing boat in the middle of the salty ocean, trying to row without oars.

 **Buttercup**  
I had fallen in love with Zac – in _love_! And that was really hard for me when it came to guys. He was so kind, so nice, and he really cared about me. He treated me like a princess, like a goddess, and always sent me texts telling me how much I meant to him and how much he missed me.

It took me one week to decide what to do, and today I broke up with him. I didn't have the energy to love one guy and feel guilty for another. Liam was never unfaithful to me; at least not on purpose, but I didn't want him back either. I didn't want to be with anyone right now. And now I love two guys and the best thing to do is to choose no one. It would only end in unfaithfulness from my side instead.

It was so unfair. Why was that succubus still alive? Why wasn't her rotting body lying somewhere nobody would ever be bothered by her again?

I landed outside the Berger's house ten p.m. that Thursday night and walked around the house until I saw the stairs leading down to the basement level underground. I knocked on the door and Liam opened it; his green eyes widened as he noticed me.

"Hi…" I whispered without looking at him. "Can I come in?"

He didn't reply but stepped aside to let me in. I sat down on his bed and he sat down next to me.

"This… all of this…" I hadn't really prepared myself but tried my best anyway. "This Olivia thing – you tried to tell me before that it wasn't you and you were telling the truth… you were actually telling the truth and I didn't listen. I am sorry, Liam; I am so sorry. Please, please, forgive me…"

Silence.

I continued: "I'm not here, begging you to take me back; I just want to redeem myself for what I did and you didn't deserve that. I'm sorry."

"Uh…" His voice told me that his eyebrows were raised in confusion and descend. "I don't know what to say, actually. I forgive you." He turned to me and I finally had the courage to look at him. "This wasn't your fault, you know. Of course you reacted the way you did; you didn't know."

"But I hurt you…" I whispered and looked down on my knees, they were shaking. I felt the tears sting in my throat.

"I would've done the same thing if I were you." He chuckled. "I don't blame you. Understand?"

I chuckled too, but not like ha-ha, but sad.

"But…" he continued. "… you're not here trying to get me back? I wouldn't say no." he placed his hand over mine. "I miss you, Brooke. In all seriousness; you're the only girl for me."

I got up on my feet and slowly walked towards the door. "I cant."

"Is it Zac?"

"No…" I replied. "I'm just too… sad about everything."

"I can wait." He said, serious and walked up to me. He sounded as he had done on the hospital a few months back. He stood up and took both my hands in his. "I won't give up now; not now that you know." He put my right hand on his left cheek and looked into my eyes.

His gaze kind of calmed me down and it made me regret what I had just said. His green, loving eyes… Why didn't I want to be with Liam? I loved him… His face didn't change; he kept looking at me, focusing on me.

Just as I felt that I was on the verge of kissing him he shut his eyes, stretched his neck and sighed. That quick feeling of never wanting to let him go just… went away, and now it felt like it had never even been there to start with.

I guess feelings are only volatile…

I gave him a crooked, sad smile, let go of his hands and opened the door. "See you in school tomorrow, okay?"

 **Have a nice weekend!**

*8 inches = 20 cm  
*6 feet, 7 inches = over 2 meters (200 cm)  
*6 feet, 3 inches = 1,90 meters (190 cm)


	19. Ch18 - The beginning of the end - FINAL

**The beginning of the end**

 **Blossom**  
Now all of May have passed and this is what has happened in only a few days:

We celebrated Professor on his fiftieths birthday and soon we will celebrate Gordon's as well.

Becca is starting to feel better and so does Brooke. The bond in our little family are stronger than ever, but this family isn't as small anymore; Irene, Zac and Gordon have become important members now as well.

Zac and Gordon is here more often to eat dinner with us and Irene is here every weekend and even sometimes on the week days, with her dogs. My sisters and I helped her to build dog houses in our back yard and Becca has found a new best friend in one of them; Curry – an energetic and friendly yellow Labrador who sleeps in Becca's bedroom every night.

The relationship between Irene and Professor has become more serious and they are really happy and sweet together. Irene promised to stay for Becca, but you can see the twinkle in her eyes whenever she looks at our dad. And Professor – that little shy chuckle he makes whenever Irene touches him – it is so adorable! I have never seen him behave like that and I'm so happy for him! He's not in his laboratory that much anymore, only when Irene is at work or somewhere else.

In only two months or so I will celebrate my two year anniversary with Dainton – two years! Wow, time flies by. We have had our ups and downs but our relationship have never been stronger than what it is right now, and in only two months he will pack his bags and fly across the country to attend his new school; Harvard. That is absolutely amazing and I am really impressed! He's truly my guy.

We still don't know where Leo is hiding and we're doing everything not to mention his name in front of Becca.

Only a week from now our summer break will start and our third year in High school will finally end. This has truly been a looong year.

 **Bubbles**  
I just walked around school during the days and kept away from the door leading to the parking lots. I took that door once after Leo had disappeared, and when I saw the skate board ramp my stomach began to cramp and I had to hurry home to throw myself down in my bed. Since then I had avoided that door and always took the exit leading to the football arena instead; from there you couldn't see the parking lots or the ramp.

The grad students were going to have their prom tonight in one of Townsville's Hotel's facilities. I wasn't going since I had one more year but Betty was going with her grad student boyfriend Dainton.

It was Friday afternoon, so my friends and I sat in a couch in the far back of one of the hallways near some lockers. They tried so hard not to look sad around me and did everything in their power to keep a conversation going.

Today I was going to tell them what was hiding inside my body.

I had tried to keep my pregnancy a secret and they actually hadn't noticed anything at all. All my clothes I owned were sort of baggy and hid the little bump that was starting to show on my belly.

"I haven't told you guys why Leo… left." I began the confession and they all immediately looked at me in shock; just as I had expected them to do. They didn't understand how much I knew they were actually trying.

"Is there a reason?" Henrietta asked.

"Otherwise he should've just dumped me but kept coming to school. Well…" I stopped for a moment so straighten my thoughts out. "I made this test a few weeks back. It came out positive."

The look in their eyes, the mixed feelings, the confusion. I saw words like ' _cancer'_ and ' _STDs'_ flicker in their tearful eyes.

"Pregnant." I said and shrugged.

At first they all sat quiet, paralyzed, but then Jessica leaned forward and put her cheek on my shoulder. Mathilda put her arm on the backboard on the couch, behind my neck, Henrietta put her hand on my knee and Ginger looked at me in distress with both hands on her mouth.

"How could he…" she whispered behind her hands.

"We're here for you, hunny. A hundred percent." Mathilda whispered. My heart skipped a beat when she said the pet name Leo had given me. "All of us."

"Are you going to keep it?" Henrietta asked.

A few tears fell from my cheek down in my lap; both sad and happy. "Yes…"

They all began shrieking and hugging me and each other and crying. Their reactions surprised me; I didn't know that they were going to get this overjoyed.

"Congratulations!" Jessica shouted.

"Oh, God… oh, God… oh, God…" said Mathilda and waved her hands in front of her face to try and stop the tears that were streaming down her face. "One of my best friends is going to become a mommy and I am going to be an aunt!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"I didn't know that you were going to take this news so easily!" said I and immediately felt several pounds lighter. I actually thought that they were going to tell me about responsibilities and stuff like that.

"Well, of course we're happy for you! Sure, it's sad that you're so young but if you've already made up your mind then we will obviously support you." Said Ginger with a big smile.

"I get that it wasn't planned… since _Douche bag_ left and all," Mathilda said, "but you are who you are, Becca. You can't eat an animal…"

"… so therefor I can't kill a human being." I continued.

Jessica leaned against my shoulder again. "You're going to be the best mommy in the world and we're going to be the world's best aunts!"

/By the end of the day I met up with Mathilda and Jessica by the lockers after our last classes. Both Henrietta and Ginger had already gone home for the day; but they waited for us at Ginger's. I had had my Biology class while Mathilda and Jessica had been over at the gym; but now they were gathering their stuff from their lockers and Mathilda was teasing Jessica about a guy, and she used a new word she had apparently heard just recently. Schtup – another word for having sex.

Jessica sighed patiently; she didn't take Mathilda's taunts seriously. "But I really wished that he had asked me today, you know?"

"Are you talking about that Calvin-guy again?" I asked them.

"Yeah," said Mathilda, "and it's so weird that he didn't ask her to the prom – he was eye schtuping her this entire hour and a half."

"Mathilda! Oh, my God…" Jessica laughed.

"You want me to schtup?" both Mathilda and Jessica broke down into laughter and tears.

"You guys are so weird." I said with a smile. I looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh, we need to hurry if we don't want to miss the bus."

"You're taking the bus with us?" Mathilda asked surprised and I caressed my belly to reply. "Oh… yeah."

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Jessica asked when we walked through the corridor to get to the school's bus stop.

I threw a quick glance at the ramp by the parking lots but even quicker looked down on the ground again. "No… Irene and I are going to a checkup tomorrow morning. She would love to know, but I don't."

"Can you take other people than Irene with you?" Mathilda asked quietly.

We now stood at the bus stop with a load of other students and I saw the bus turning the corner from the apartments; where Zac lived; steering towards us. I took a one dollar bill from the pocket on my jacket. "You guys can come, if you want to?"

"Yeeeees."Mathilda moaned with a dark voice and gave me a quick hug from the side before entering the bus.

When the doors closed and we all sat down in our seats, rain started hammering against the windows, and then hail and then almost snow… it was June, for Pete's sake! The winter is apparently never coming to its end.

 **Professor**  
Bubbles only came home to drop off her backpack at around four, and then she told me that she and her girl-friends were going to Ginger who lived in the apartment district not even one mile from here.

"Have fun!" I shouted just before she closed the door after her.

I leaned back in the couch again and stretched my legs. Becca was in such a good mood today and soon she would be herself again. Time heals all wounds. Little noises from paws and claws behind the couch made me look up, and a nose peeked up above the armrest. It was one of Irene's dogs; Albert; a happy go lucky German shepherd that had taken a liking for me and followed me wherever I went. His ears were now showing behind the armrest of the couch, and then the big, shiny eyes. They looked deep into my eyes and his tail was slowly and hopefully wagging behind him.

"Oh, well, come on then…" I sighed and patted the cushion right next to me.

Albert flew up on the couch like a missile and lay down with his nose in my lap, tail drumming on the armrest. Having dogs wasn't actually that bad. I remembered all those times Bubble's came home dragging all kinds of cats, dogs and rodents and I got mad at her every time, explained to her how much work a pet was.

All of that seems so far away right now…

We couldn't possibly get any more work now than what we already have in this family; a dog, a baby, five dogs… what difference does it make? The dogs were never in the way and didn't chew stuff or house break. They bark at people passing on the street or when the doorbell rings, they wag their tails and break things with their tails – not on purpose of course – and when you say "sit" they jump on you to get to the treat. Those are things that Irene finds annoying and want to change; train them away; but I'm actually okay with that. They're behaving just like any other dog in this world.

A baby can't be that much more work?

Albert stood up on the couch to look out the window to the backyard with pointy ears and fixed gaze. I braced myself – soon he was going to bark and I didn't want to be caught off guard like I usually do. But the dog just jumped down on the floor and stood by the backdoor. He looked back at me and whined – he wanted me to open the door for him. I walked to the window and looked out, and just before I could ask him what was wrong all the other dogs ran back and forth along the hedge, all barking.

"It's only a person passing the hedge again." I calmly said to Albert, but I still opened the door to let him out and to join the pandemonium. They will calm down soon.

Irene had to work at the Townsville lab until eight tonight so I offered to take care of her dogs, and since none of my girls were home I went down to my lab in the basement to proceed with my research. Ever since I found out that Bubbles was pregnant I'd spent more and more time down in my lab, but only when I was all alone in the house; I didn't want to worry my family.

The thing is that… I didn't even get mad when I heard Bubbles say those nightmarish words – _I am pregnant_ – I actually got… scared. No; _terrified_ ; and awfully and chillingly confused. I had no idea that they could even have children, considering they don't have their own bellybuttons, fingerprints or didn't get their period as a normal girl. If they can't get wounded and bleed; then how could they possibly get their periods? Did they even _have_ blood? Since no X-rays could see through their tough skin I never knew if they had ovaries, eggs and a uterus… female parts… I actually didn't expect that this was ever going to be possible for them – motherhood.

And one other thing; what are we even going to _expect_ when the baby is coming? Is it going to be stronger than Bubbles, considering she has super powers? Or will it be the same as her? Equally strong? Or is the baby going to have more DNA from Leo who is currently having the block in him; the Antidote X that is blocking him from using his ulterior super powers? Is the baby going to have the same blockage as its father or is it going to try and burst out of its mother's body whenever it's ready to be born?

I need to find out as much as I possibly can about this baby before it arrives… but how?

 **Blossom**  
"… I'll be there in five, I promise!"

" _Just hurry up."_

"Yes! See you soon."

" _I love you."_

"I love you too."

" _Come on, hurry!"_ he laughed in his phone.

"Okay, I'll be there in five!" I hung up before he could distract me anymore and then blame our late arrival on me.

Dainton sounded nervous, I heard. But why? It's only prom; almost like the one before Christmas; only that it wasn't going to be in the canteen this time, but in one of four star Townsville Hotel's facilities. The grad students were really going to have a nice prom night. And me.

Dainton waited in his car outside of my house, so I checked myself in the mirror one last time before running out to the hallway.

"Have fun!" said Professor from the couch in the living room. He had Irene under his arm and the sight of them, smiling like that, made me smile as well.

"Thanks, you too! I'll be home before midnight." I replied and checked myself in the mirror by the front door again. "Bye!"

"Good bye!" Professor and Irene shouted in chorus.

I opened the door and ran down the driveway until I reached the black Volvo, opened the passenger door and quickly jumped in. I looked into my boyfriend's smiling face; he leaned towards me and gave me a kiss.

"How are you?" I asked; he seemed numb.

"Fine. I'm fine." He replied, put the car in reverse and made a half circle on the straight road (there was no cul-de-sac close to our house) and then he drove towards the town.

"You weren't this nervous when they handed out the diplomas earlier today." I pointed out while analyzing his stiff stare on the road in front of him.

"No… I don't think that I'm nervous. I would say that I'm more like… excited maybe." He smiled wide but kept facing forward.

"New school and all of that?" I sighed, but tried not to sound sad.

"Yup… And how are you?" he asked me mainly out of courtesy.

"I'm fine." I muttered.

I didn't know why I felt so incredibly annoyed… I guess it was because of Dainton and his expressionless mood today. Was he nervous or was it something else? He was acting weird and I didn't like it at all.

Once we arrived to the hotel Dainton drove around the parking lot, looking for a parking space, but it was hard since it was full of cars. Eventually we found a space and started walking across the parking lot to enter the hotel and join the party. We walked up the steps and a man in uniform greeted us by the door, opened it and let us in.

"Fancy." I mumbled.

Inside the hotel, in the lobby, three other men welcomed us by taking our jackets and giving us drinks – alcohol free, of course – just like the piccolo on the hotel on Hawaii had done. Loud music was heard from the hallway to the right from the lobby, and one of the men in uniform pointed us in that direction. The music came from a double door in the end of the hallway and we steered our steps there.

 _Another_ man opened them from the inside to let us in, and once we saw the decorations both Dainton's and my jaws dropped. The room looked just like a night club from the seventies with three big disco balls slowly spinning in the ceiling; spotlights in all different colors; smoke came from the scene where a band played old songs from the era that was the theme of this graduation party; a long bar stood alongside the left wall of the room and small tables were placed around the dance floor. It was dark but bright in the same time with lots and lots of colors and lights.

I looked at Dainton who looked back at me. "You like this, right?" he asked.

"It'll be fun!" I promised him; now I remembered that he hated being the center of attention – all of his friends were walking towards us now, on their way of congratulating him for getting enrolled at Harvard. "Next time will be my turn."

 **Bubbles**  
My friends and I were at Ginger's when Jessica's "secret admirer" called. The graduation party was starting in an hour.

"What was his excuse?" Mathilda asked once Jessica hung up her phone.

"What?" asked Jessica with burning red cheeks and in the same time tried to gather her things to hurry home.

"His excuse for not asking you earlier?"

"Oh…" Jessica mumbled. "He said that he was shy… It was his friends who sort of forced him to finally make the call." She looked at me with her backpack ready on her back, with an embarrassed expression on her face and wide eyes.

"Of course." I replied to her silent and desperate question.

I gave her a ride home – by air, even though I hadn't planned on using my powers during my pregnancy – and we were there only a minute later. While she was taking a shower I went through all of her clothes to find the dress she used on the graduation last year and put all of her makeup on the table by her mirror. Jessica left the shower eight minutes later and praised and worshiped me for helping her. She was done with the dress, makeup and hair only five minutes before the party started and I flew her to Townsville's hotel.

"Thanks… again… so much. I don't know how-"

"Just come with me to the checkup tomorrow." I interrupted her.

Jessica gave me a thankful smile and a hug. "Do you just want to do me one last favor? If you could just stay with me until he arrives, because… well… I mean…"

I knew that she meant that she wanted me to wait with her just in case he was going to stand her up, and nodded. So I waited, but not for long; a cute, tall guy slowly walked towards us on the stairs with his friends behind him; they were whispering encouraging words like " _go on, mate_ " and " _I_ told _you she'd be here, man_ ". I was able to hear them because of my super sensitive ears.

Calvin Thatcher; from my science class; had dark eyes with heavy eyelids (he looked high, like high on drugs, but I knew that he wasn't a junkie; he only looked like that), had dark hair and a kind of round and childish face – but his smile could get any girl to melt. He was a few inches taller than Jessica even though she was wearing heels.

"Becca." I said and took his hand to officially introduce myself – we hadn't really talked to each other, we had only that class together; other than that, he was one year older than us and a senior. I turned to Jessica after the handshake. "Call me if you want me to pick you up later." I whispered so quietly only she could hear me. If the night was successful then Calvin was probably going to give her a ride home.

And apparently the night _was_ successful since Jess didn't call me again. Mathilda was the one calling her right past midnight to see what she was doing, and she told us that she was still with Calvin and his friends, and had so much fun; and twenty minutes later she called again to tell us that she was home and really, really needed to talk to us the next morning, right before the checkup.

/The next morning I had forgotten all about Jess and Calvin and the graduation party; I was going to meet my midwife, or delivery nurse, at the hospital in an hour.

Irene greeted me in the kitchen with the table full of breakfast food and had a big smile on her face behind the morning paper when I entered the room. "Good morning, sweetie! Are you ready in half an hour?" her voice was hinting on an underlying excitement; she really wanted to know the gender today.

So curious.

I just wanted to know if the baby was okay.

I nodded my head and took a glass from the cabinet.

"John is still sleeping, but he'll be awake when we come back. He really wants to know, too, you know?"

I nodded again but secretly disagreed with her on that. Ever since Professor found out that I was pregnant he had been pretending that I wasn't even in the same room as him… ignoring me, almost… neglecting me; if you could say that. I tried to persuade myself that he was trying to understand the situation and become accustomed with the thought of a baby… and a grandchild… oh, wow, now I think I get it – he feels old. That must be it; why else would he hate me so much after all this time? It was weeks ago that he talked normally to me and even looked into my eyes. Every time I was home alone with him; when Irene wasn't at home; he was only quietly sitting in his chair in the living room. And when I left the room to do something else he snuck down to the basement where his laboratory was.

Irene was only forcing these fake feelings of his because she wanted me to feel better.

She started the car engine half past nine and we drove towards Townsville's women's clinic. We picked my friends up on the way; they were all packed and huddled up in the backseat. Nobody said a word the entire ride; I think they read my emotions and didn't want to upset me. I love my friends.

Ten minutes to ten we arrived to the hospital and now I was stressed over the fact that I had no idea where to go even though I had been here a thousand times to drop wounded people off at the emergency. Irene, on the other hand, was fast away through the corridors; reading the signs with a confident expression on her face, and only two minutes later she found the right department.

We waited quietly in the waiting room for fifteen minutes even though I had an appointment, and a nurse called me up.

"Okay, sweetie, let's go. It'll be just fine." Irene said encouraging and took my hand.

Mathilda patted me on my arm and the others smiled wide. They were going to stay in the waiting room.

"Hello, Rebecca, my name is Emily, and I will be your delivery nurse." Emily had long, brown, curly hair and a thin face. Her eyes were narrow and made her look almost like a cat. She looked really nice. "And you must me Irene?"

"Yes, hi." Irene shook her hand after me.

"Welcome, both of you, and please, sit." Emily closed the door after us and pointed to a pair of soft looking chairs, waited for us to sit down and then sat down, herself, on her office chair. "How are you today, Rebecca?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"No nausea in the mornings? Are you tired or hungry a lot?"

"No nausea, but I sleep a lot. And I'm not eating more than usual."

Emily scrabbled down a few words on her notepad and then looked up on me again with a friendly smile. "How long ago did you find out about your pregnancy?"

I swallowed my nervousness and decided to pretend like this was all a movie; I wasn't here and Irene wasn't here and this wasn't embarrassing at all. "When I checked the other day I was in my fifteenth week."

"So, about four months next week, right?" the nurse nodded. "Okay. Do you want to take your shirt off and lay down in my bed over here?" she stood up and walked to the table with paper coting on it.

I stood up, took my shirt off but left my t-shirt on; I could just fold it up over my belly later.

While I sat on the table Emily walked around it and pulled the office chair with her to the screen on the other side of it. "And what a group of friends you have. All of those girls waiting outside – they're your friends, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And Irene; are you the mother?"

"She's my father's girlfriend." I replied, but looked apologetic at Irene.

"But I see her as my daughter." Irene walked across the room and took my hand. I smiled back.

"Aw, that's nice." Said Emily, pulled out a drawer from under the monitor and took out a white tube. "This'll be a little chilly. Lay down, Rebecca, and fold up your t-shirt… thank you." Irene didn't let go of my hand when I leaned back into the bed and Emily squeezed out some viscous liquid on my belly and I grimaced. She wasn't joking about it being chilly. "Okay, let's see…"

Now she took an instrument that looked like one of those bleep things the cashiers use in stores to check out your groceries with, and began smearing the transparent liquid around the lower part of my belly with it. It was attached to a black box under the monitor, and I assumed that that was the computer, the machine that stored all the information. The ultra sound machine, that is.

We were all looking at the monitor and the grainy and pixilated black and white picture. "So… hm…" Emily kept swirling the cashier bleep thingy around on my belly. "These machines are well over their expiration dates. It's a bit blurry so it's kind of hard; and a bit too early; to determine the sex right now, but… if you look here…" she turned to me with a confused smile. "It looks like you're having twins, Rebecca."

"Oh… w-wow, that's amazing…" I said. I really didn't know what to say anymore.

"Well, I guess it was sort of unavoidable considering you're a triplet, Becca." Said Irene.

"That must be the genes!" Emily giggled.

Irene continued: "The father is a triplet… too…" she stopped herself; she must've forgotten that it was taboo talking about him.

"Oh, wow, there you go!" Emily didn't catch the changed air in the room and kept thinking this was fun and interesting. "But the babies are fine; their heartbeats were strong and healthy." She pulled the chair to her computer again and began typing while I wiped the liquid off of my belly. "I want to see you again in a month for another checkup. Is… July, second good for you?"

I, who was in no mood of being sad anymore, put on a smile on my face and said: "Of course! Do you think that we will be able to see the sex of the babies then?"

"Yes, I'm positive!" the printer started printing. "Then I'll see you again the second of July, one p.m. Any questions?" she handed me the paper with all the information about this checkup, and the time and date for the next appointment.

I didn't have any further questions, but Emily gave me some brochures about being pregnant, said good bye to me, Irene and my friends and then we started to walk away from the clinic towards the parking lot again.

"So?" Mathilda asked excited.

"We still don't know the genders yet…" I said with a mischievous smile. I looked at Irene who knew what I was doing.

We were all quiet for a bit, until Ginger said: "Wait… did she say 'genders'?" she asked and looked at Mathilda, Jessica and Henrietta. "She said _genders_ , right?"

"Plural?" Henrietta tried to catch my eyes.

I nodded.

"No? Triplets?" Mathilda asked with a low and dark voice.

I shook my head.

"Twins?" Ginger squeaked. "Are you seriously implying that we're having twins?"

"Oh, my God, this is making me so schtupping happy!" Mathilda shouted through clenched teeth because she didn't want to be too loud.

While my friends laughed and talked about what they had just found out, Irene caught up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry about what I said about… him… it was incredibly clumsy of me."

"It's okay, Irene, really. I need to get used to talk about him sooner or later; it's been two months now."

"Okay… then let me buy you girls lunch!"

"You're the best, Irene!" said Mathilda. "And we're having twins! Woohoo!"

Twins… I was going to have two babies, not one. Two.

 **Professor**  
Maybe it was too fast for some, but for me it wasn't fast enough. It felt like I had known Irene my whole life, already. She loved my daughters and I adored her sons. She showed big interest in Bubbles, and for that I was eternally grateful; and that made me realize that she was the perfect woman for this family – for me.

I took her to a restaurant the night before our children's graduation. It was a really nice restaurant, expensive too; I had never been here before and the girls promised to take care of the dogs. I told Irene all of this; what she meant for me and for my girls, and she looked at me with tear filled eyes – knowing what was coming.

She started to cry when I sat down in front of her, on one knee, and shrieked quietly when I pulled the small box out of my pocket. "… and those are just a few of the reasons I'm hoping you'll spend the rest of your life with me. Irene, will you marry me?"

She nodded with her entire body and held out her shaky left arm. "Yes!" she replied.

 **Buttercup**  
Speech-day.

Since we were only juniors we didn't do much the last day of school. We were all; all except for the seniors who'd already finished everything; gathered in the Assembly hall a few hours and listened to Principal Williams' speech. A few of the teachers had their own speeches, some of the students held speeches and performed, some said some cried… lame… and the basketball's team and the football's team showed a video each that they had made.

The football's team's video was kind of boring. They only tried to be funny, pretending they didn't know how to play the game. Almost everyone laughed, of course. The best part in the video was actually a clip of Luke Berger – the Running back – who did several trick shots with the football that looked really advanced… even I was impressed.

The basketball team had made some sort of montage of the past year with cool background music (Jake was the one who'd made the song, and was the one behind the camera as well), and they celebrated the four players that graduated from high school this year.

In some of the clips Liam was goofing around, trying to be funny (the audience was laughing), while in others he stood in the background, as if he didn't want to have the camera on him at all. I guess we all have our days when we want to be alone…

My eyes widened as I saw myself in the video; I had just finished dancing with my squad in the sports center when Liam showed both thumbs up to the camera before sneaking up on me from behind. He picked me up in the air and swirled me around while I screamed and laughed. I remembered that; but I don't remember Jake recording it. I looked down a few rows in front of me and spotted Liam who had turned on his seat to smile at me, with both thumbs up like in the video.

Apparently we were going to move on as friends. Good friends, I hope.

The big and final cheerleading competition will be a week from now and the week after that my sisters and I are going to Forestville where we will work as camp leaders at a summer camp. Camp Waspbury, where we worked last summer. The owners were so happy and thought that we we're so good the last time around that they called us, asking us to help them this year as well.

I had found my call – to take care of energetic and screaming children for three weeks in a row!

 **Blossom**  
Dainton didn't _have_ to come today, but was sitting next to me, holding my hand through the whole speech-day. Luke and Mindy was also close, and I was so happy that I had gotten Luke as a friend.

When it was all over I felt my heart sink a little. It was the last time I was going to sit in this room together with Dainton, the last time I was going to see him inside these four walls. But I was happy in the same time because the past year had been such a good year. I had lost Dainton once but I also got him back, and I didn't want to be with another guy ever again.

I was still friends with Mindy, and I had found a new friend in Luke; a person I thought would be my enemy forever. But he wasn't friends with only me; he liked Dainton as well and played the same stupid zombie game as Dainton did. If they gave it a little bit of time, then I think that they would become really good friends.

Dennis; the tomboy girl I met in Hawaii; had sent me a mail saying that she wanted to see me soon again, inviting me over to her new apartment.

Professor proposed to Irene and they were going to have a backyard wedding this summer. He had finally found someone to share the rest of his life with.

Brooke and Zac had broken up, but he was still our friend and soon he would even become our brother… well, it was lucky they broke up, now that I think of it, haha!

She and Liam were broken up too, but they'll soon be back together. I just know it, and I know that they know it too.

And I just know that Becca will be alright too. She's already started to buy clothes for the twins. Gender neutral clothes and toys since she doesn't know what gender they are, and stuff a baby needs the first few months. And even though we don't know where Leo is, I know that she will be alright without him.

This past year have been filled with sorrow _and_ happiness, pain _and_ love.

Now all that is before us is a summer camp and a wedding… and for the rest, we will have to wait and see.

 **The end.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading! This was the end of the first book out of three, and I will have a short break now before beginning translating the second book!**

 **I hope you will have a nice day and please comment, ask me questions! Give me criticism! Thank you :)**


	20. Tumblr account announcement!

Hello! I have made a tumblr account where I upload the pictures and sketches of my fanfictions! If you're interested, please visit letsgetschwifty and tell me what you think of the pictures! You can even make requests :)

Thanks you for reading!

My bad! I didn't realize that links didn't work here! But search for letsgetschwifty!


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